• LET’S give lots of praise to the staff in surgeries, in hospitals, and the ambulance crews, who have all done a magnificent job under the most trying of circumstances.

But, and isn’t there always a “but”, I find that in all of this, the spectre of privatised medicine hangs over us and it is worth remembering that over £15billion of private contracts have been issued in the past five years.

I recently had to have treatment for an issue with a major organ which involved three appointments. They could have been dealt with at either the Royal Free Hospital or University College London Hospitals.

But I had to go to Stratford for one, Enfield for the second, and Temple Fortune for the third, where sticky things attached to my torso came off within four hours, which entailed another visit.

I might have liked to bring this matter up at my Patient Participation Group (PPG) but my surgery has not held a meeting for about 18 months. This is a statutory requirement.

Neither have they issued any newsletters which could have been done with the group’s assistance. Now I think that to say that you are too busy to hold meetings is missing something.

It is possible that the staff could have written about what they are having difficulties with and the membership could have followed their requests and made life easier for everyone.

As the chair of my surgery’s PPG I would hope that they take advantage of this opportunity. As users we don’t want our staff to become ill or even to resign. We want them here; face to face!

CHRISTOPHER MASON
Hawley Road, NW1