LETTERS
Hospital malaise
Sir: In Jock Bruce-Gardyne's article `Mr Lawson buys off the dentists and opticians' (5 November), he expects but derides the probability that all the £2 billion pro- mised to the NHS will go into the pay packets of Mr Bickerstaffe's members rather than on new specialist units all over the country. He clearly fails to realise that it is the inadequacy of manpower and not of equipment which is at the root of the current malaise in the NHS, and the only way out of the present situation is to entice trained personnel to stay in post rather than leave at the first opportunity.
This year, locally, hundreds of opera- tions have been cancelled because there were no operating theatre assistants. Dozens of clinics have been cancelled because there were no receptionists or co-ordinators to send for the patients. Cardiac operations have been cancelled, usually at the last possible moment, be- cause there was no nurse available in the intensive care unit. Wards are closed be- cause nursing budgets are insufficient to pay nurses their agreed salaries. Lal3ora- tory technicians are trained in hospital laboratories, then leave for private indus- try.
These local examples can be repeated all over the country. The facilities are present, the doctors are available, the equipment works, but the trained non-medical staff, Bickerstaffe followers or not, are not.
One experienced operating theatre assis- tant left his post this year because the pay and hours were better as a trainee fireman. Our departmental medical secretary left because she could get the same pay work- ing part-time under better conditions in a building society. The NHS does not need hip replacement centres in every village, it needs trained staff to keep the existing facilities, much of which is perfectly adequ- ate, functioning, and if the two billion enables this to be done it will be the most efficient use of the money possible.
Michael Pritchard
Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff
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