Letters - August 29, 2016

NHS cuts are in the wrong place
Threats to the NHS is a topic that has provoked most concern and debate for our letter writers todayThreats to the NHS is a topic that has provoked most concern and debate for our letter writers today
Threats to the NHS is a topic that has provoked most concern and debate for our letter writers today

NHS

Health cuts putting lives at risk

Such severe NHS cuts are an absolute disgrace, they are always in the wrong place like children’s learning or worse still putting mother’s and babies lives at risk by cutting down on caesarean sections. We nearly lost our daughter and grandson leaving it to an emergency caesarean.

Also another of our grandson has aspergers, I’m sure due to my daughter having to undergo a last-minute emergency section, plus cutting IVF causing more heartbreak to childless couples.

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One of the main things draining the NHS is all of the agency fees they are paying out to private agencies charging disgraceful amounts .

It’s bad enough the cuts to mental health patients are always in the wrong places, like the poor girl on Wilkinson’s roof two days in a row and the awful people calling for her to jump. God knows how they were brought up, we were always brought up with compassion and thought for others and the saying, “There but for the grace of god go I.”

Jane Taylor

Bispham

Brexit

What will Brexit mean for the NHS?

Two months have now passed since the decision was made that the UK will be leaving the European Union. Since the referendum there has been much talk but little clarity about what happens next and the consequences of this result for all of us.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) remains particularly concerned about the impact on the nursing workforce. NHS hospitals, care homes and other organisations across the health and social care sectors across the UK rely on the huge contribution of nursing staff from both inside and outside the EU. Figures show there are currently more than 33,000 EU trained nurses registered to work in the UK. Nearly 2,000 of these work in our region. The continuing uncertainty about what Brexit means for the future of EU nursing staff already working here and those interested in doing so threatens to worsen nursing shortages, already threatened by changes to student funding and the removal of bursaries.

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We also continue to hear of cases of abuse directed at EU nursing staff following the referendum and the assumption by some that they should have left the UK. Such prejudice is reprehensible. There must be zero tolerance of any such abuse in the workplace and communities.

The RCN will ensure that the nursing voice is heard as negotiations on leaving the EU commence and will support our members who are affected. We must never lose sight of the fact that without EU nurses health services could not operate and patient care would undoubtedly suffer.

Dave Dawes

RCN North West Regional Board Chair

Brexit

Why haven’t we left the EU yet?

On June 24, 2016, the majority voted Brexit, we are still in the EU, why?

We should be out now and all wages paid to UK MEPs stopped straight away, forget article 50 or whatever. Mother Theresa is stalling deliberately, when the Berlin wall came down all Eastern Bloc European countries were free from the Soviet Union instantly.

S Ellis

via email

Politics

Robin Hood was union forerunner

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We all liked to read about Robin Hood and we all supported him when he robbed the rich and gave to the poor.

In those days there were no unions. The rich were given freedom to squeeze taxes out of the poor even if they could not afford it.

Unable to pay, some of them decided to join a thief and vagabond who resided somewhere in the forest of Sherwood.

Robin Hood and his merrie men were the forerunner which later became today’s unions.

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And of course Robin Hood, if he was alive today would be sent to jail and the key thrown away.

Eddie Peart

via email

Sport

We all need to get swimming

We can all sing the praises of the success of our sportsmen and women at the Rio Olympics but it should be a concern to hear that participation in time spent on school sport has gone down.

A million fewer people are swimming today than 10 years ago and almost half of 11-year-olds cannot swim 25 metres. Fifteen years ago it was reported 38 per cent of 11 to 16-year-olds were swimming at least once a month.

In 2008 a Labour Government announced a package worth £140m of grants for local authorities wishing to give free swimming to all 60-year-olds and over and all 16s and under from April 2009.

The coalition Government scrapped this funding in 2010.

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The Government should show concern at these figures, parents of course also have a responsibility to teach their kids to swim at an early age.

Swimming like all sport is good for our physical and mental health.

John Applyard

via email