Letters: Britain needs a war Cabinet to get to grips with the collapsing NHS

SIR – Andrew Pearse (Letters, December 21) is right – the problems facing the NHS are far too great for one party to address, though I was pleased that Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, recognised the need for reform from the Labour benches.

Under successive governments, root-and-branch changes – from working more closely with the private sector to having a state-sponsored health insurance scheme – have been vetoed because of political ideologies, often within the NHS itself.

We need the equivalent of a war Cabinet to be set up, with members from all main political parties. We need to forget political point-scoring and prepare to look at seismic changes within the NHS. These should include structure, efficiency, better on-the-ground training and management accountability. Given how much better health services are in other countries that spend comparable amounts, we can’t just drift along as we are.

Barry Gibbs
Wimborne, Dorset

SIR – Philip Johnston (Comment, December 21) asks why Germany spends a similar amount per capita on health care to Britain yet has more hospital beds (7.8 versus 2.4 per 100,000 people), more critical care beds (27 versus 7.3) and better outcomes. The answer is efficiency.

Fifty years ago there were long-stay geriatric wards into which the frail elderly were moved to free up acute service beds. The pace was slower and they attracted nurses who responded to their calling to care for such people. Some patients died there, some were discharged into the community.

These wards were closed to save money and because they were considered demeaning. Of course, they were not as demeaning as what we see now – 93-year-olds on the floor for 25 hours with broken hips with a further 12-hour wait to be admitted.

No efforts at reform by politicians obsessed with re-election will have any impact until there are more beds.

Michael Joy
Taunton, Somerset

SIR – When I worked at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as a junior doctor from 1967, the Nightingale wards regularly put up extra beds to cope with acute admissions – up to seven down the middle of a ward.

It was not ideal as there was little privacy, but it was better than enduring the delays currently being experienced. Even in the late 1970s at Leeds General Infirmary, extra beds were used to cope with acute admissions.

Dr Nigel J Cooke
Leeds, West Yorkshire

SIR – The NHS is undergoing a major crisis involving serious work stoppages and discussions over working conditions, but the chief executive is nowhere to be seen or heard.

Amanda Pritchard receives an annual salary of £260,000 but appears to be making no contribution to resolving today’s issues. What are we paying her for?

David J Dodd
Grantham, Lincolnshire

Depleted Army

SIR – Over Christmas and New Year 1977-78, my unit deployed to Edinburgh to provide cover during the fire brigades’ strike. Then, as now, our soldiers were paid less than the workers they stood in for. So while I agree with the sentiment expressed in the interview with Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Chief of the Defence Staff (December 18), in which he cautions against relying on the military as the ultimate backstop, I am afraid to say it was ever thus.

While the head of Britain’s Armed Forces appears to have felt duty-bound to state that providing cover for strikes would not impede operations, he delicately points out that it would be “slightly perilous” if this became routine. In picking up this theme, your Leading Article (December 18) voices concern at the small size of the Army. This hints at the crucial distinction between the scenario we faced 45 years ago and the present situation.

Back then, the Army was twice the size it is today, with commensurately larger reserves. While the Cold War was in full swing, the Soviet Union and its satellites were contained and Britain was able to fulfil its deterrent obligation to Nato while undertaking a range of other commitments. Today, with an 80,000 strong regular Army, much of its equipment obsolete, and materiel stocks low, we face a live threat from Russia and a wavering Western alliance.

This is the real reason why we can no longer tolerate the routine use of the Armed Forces when the public sector goes on strike.

Brigadier Rod Brummitt (retd)
Bournemouth, Dorset

SIR – Admiral Sir Tony Radakin is right that our Armed Forces are not spare capacity for strikes but, as the Royal Marines were once described, they are the sheet anchor that keeps the ship of state off the rocks.

Lt Col Brian Seage
St Cleer, Cornwall

Church running costs

SIR – As a long-time member of the Methodist Church in a small town, reading of the difficulties faced by many of the smaller Church of England parishes (Letters, December 25) has been of considerable interest.

The situation is replicated among many Methodist churches, where substantial sums of money are required to be paid monthly towards the costs of the minister, and expenses incurred further up the chain, from increasingly smaller congregations. Church property does not belong to the local churches, and yet they are also required to pay for all the costs incurred in maintaining, insuring, heating and so on.

The solution from higher up the bureaucracy seems to be to close the buildings, yet they fulfil an essential function as the hub not only of the Christian community, but also the wider town community.

We have thriving weekday church and outreach activities attended by many non-churchgoers, but funding them is becoming impossible when, in effect, the church is running at a substantial loss.

John H Brook
High Peak, Derbyshire

Breakfast curveball

SIR – Regarding Marks & Spencer changing its decision to serve teacakes only at breakfast (Letters, December 12), I recently ordered poached eggs on toast at an M&S in Oxfordshire, which came in a bowl. The waitress, when asked, informed me that all breakfast dishes come in a bowl.

Andrew Jackson
Helmdon, Northamptonshire

Early retirement

SIR – I have become increasingly frustrated by people blaming those taking early retirement for Britain’s labour crisis (report, December 20).

I was until recently employed by a high-profile media organisation, the management of which seemed to think that anyone over the age of 50 was an inconvenience to be disposed of at the earliest opportunity and replaced by some bright young thing with “modern” opinions. Those of us of a certain age were regularly described as “bed blockers” and our opinions and contributions increasingly ignored.

Small wonder, then, that I was one of many who decided that an early exit was preferable to continuing to work for an organisation that neither wanted nor valued me.

If our Government is serious about stemming the tide of early retirements, it might focus on employers’ attitudes rather than those of employees.

Phillipa Dobson
Birmingham

Bittermint blues

SIR – I write to express disappointment with another great British institution that has fallen foul of shrinkflation.

I recently bought a 200g box of Bendicks Bittermints as a Christmas present. The last time I did so, about 30 years ago, they came in a smart green and white box with the large mints tastefully wrapped in silver foil.

The product is a shadow of its former self. There are now 11 (not 12 or 10) much smaller mints poorly wrapped in cheap green foil in a tacky box. I have to admit that I checked the box to see if they were made in China.

I note it still carries the late Queen’s warrant. I wonder whether the King will renew it.

Lt Col Julian Crowe
Malton, North Yorkshire

SIR – Your report (“Ladies won’t love Milk Tray tasting of bleach”, December 22) reminds me of a time, nearly 40 years ago, when I was living in Cairo.

The only wine one could buy in restaurants was either the Omar Khayyam red or the Nefertiti white, neither of which was particularly palatable at the best of times. However, for a few months it seemed that something had gone wrong at the Nefertiti bottling plant, as every bottle had the distinct bouquet of diesel fuel.

In smart restaurants, one would be invited to taste the wine, and it became apparent that there was no point in sending it back and getting another bottle, as the same tainted taste was guaranteed. We just got used to it.

Quentin Skinner
Warminster, Wiltshire

How to cure a hangover in just a few minutes

SIR – The best cure for a hangover (Letters, December 22) is a few minutes in a cold sea.

David Bennett
Hove, East Sussex

SIR – I rely on a Prairie Oyster and a solid breakfast as a hangover cure.

Joe Aboulafia
Geneva, Switzerland

SIR – Like many of us, my Dad would occasionally enjoy a few drinks in the evening.

He would never admit to having a hangover the following morning, but would sometimes say that he felt “a bit wooden”.

Perfect description, I think.

Helen Jones
Ludlow, Shropshire

The only answer to mounting energy problems

SIR – The mantra of the electricity industry has always been that electricity must be generated “where it’s wanted, when it’s wanted”. There are two good reasons for this. First, the cost and environmental impact of high-voltage transmission are huge. Secondly, there is no economically viable gigawatt-scale electricity storage solution on the horizon.

The largest lithium-ion battery presently proposed has a capacity of 0.5 gigawatt-hours, whereas if the country was to rely on renewables during a future cold spell, such as the recent one, somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity would be required. Lithium-ion batteries are expensive, difficult to recycle, have a short life compared to a power station, contain highly flammable materials that burn furiously and use materials dependent on a fraught supply chain. They are excellent for phones and laptops but, as many drivers of electric cars will soon realise, when range degradation becomes unacceptable, their cars will become worthless and the cost of replacing the battery can exceed the value of the car. Using the population of electric cars as a means of storage would exacerbate range degradation at the expense of the owners and could render cars inoperable during periods of high demand.

If the country is to meet its net-zero targets, the Government must immediately instigate a policy that enables the private sector to embark on a programme of investment and construction of small-scale nuclear power stations able to provide the bulk of Britain’s electricity. Large-scale nuclear plants are exceedingly difficult to finance because of the capital cost and long lead times but, given the right commercial and permitting environment, small-scale plants, as developed by Rolls-Royce, could prove attractive for the private sector and provide electricity “where it’s wanted, when it’s wanted”. Development of a thriving “mini-nuke” industry could lead to substantial exports and thousands of highly skilled jobs.

Bruce C F Gawler
Chippenham, Wiltshire

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