20 FEBRUARY 1948, Page 16

Stu,—You are accurate in your statement that a doctor is

completely free to participate or not participate in the national service, but for the specialist the choice is circumscribed. On the appointed day the hospitals he now serves will be taken over by the State, and the choice for each member of the staff will lie between participating in the service and resignation. For a surgeon resignation means the abandonment of surgery. The option of which you write so airily is not really quite so simple as it appears to be to you.—Yours faithfully, - CECIL. FLEMING.

5 Upper Wimpole Street, W.r.