If I were a poor man
Sir: Your editorial on the NHS (15 Febru- ary) was foolish. People with any sense don't 'go private' to get a private room. They do it to jump the queue: that is, they use their money as a way of getting treated before other patients, instead of submitting to a criterion of need, or first-come-first- served; and they square it with their con- sciences as best they can.
For example, when my GP spotted my glaucoma, I took his advice and saw a con- sultant immediately and privately, so that treatment could start within days rather than months. (Glaucoma causes irreparable damage; treatment arrests the progress of the disease.) If I were a poor man, I might now be blind. I don't think this is morally right; but I think that most people in my position would have done the same. With a better funded (and organised) health ser- vice, such dilemmas would be removed.
Andrew Davies
21 Station Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire
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