14 MAY 2005, Page 19

London is safer

From Julian Joyce

Sir: There is a simple solution to Susan Hill’s problem (‘Sorry, the doctor can’t see you now’, 7 May). She needs to move to the city where, as she acknowledges, GPs are far more likely to attend her in an emergency. Otherwise I’m not quite sure what the answer is. If it’s the recruitment of extra GPs to make calls to isolated farmhouses, I wonder where the money will come from? Does Susan expect urbanites like me to subsidise her rural lifestyle choice?

Indeed, as she has a serious wasp allergy, the countryside is the last place she needs to be. I would counsel a move to the grubby, but safer, streets of London immediately.

Julian Joyce Isleworth, Middlesex