The report and letter in the News Shopper (Feb. 3) on the deplorable state of our hospitals, with emergency cases spending up to 21 hours waiting for a bed, makes me feel very angry.

We always said the NHS was under threat when the Tories were in power, but all pensioners who voted a New Labour government into office in 1997 cannot understand why they are still carrying on with the same policies, especially developing schemes run by PFI.

Mr Dobson, the Health Minister, is always telling us he is putting more and more money into the NHS, but where is the proof if the reports in the paper are true.

We are short of beds throughout the borough with emergency cases spending hours on trolleys waiting for a bed.

So what does the minister do to alleviate the pain and the suffering?

He agrees to build a new hospital at Farnborough with 200 beds less than we have in the borough now.

Is this the act of a "Caring Government"? It certainly doesn't look that way to me.

We pensioners have enjoyed 50 years of being looked after by the Health Service, claimed throughout the world to be the finest. Will tomorrow's pensioners have the same care and attention as we had? I doubt it, unless of course they've got thousands of pounds in the bank to pay for private treatment.

Everyone must be alert to what is happening. They should protest in what ever way they can, writing letters to their MP's, the press and discussing the issues with as many relations, friends and neighbours as possible. We must act now or our NHS is going to die on it's feet.

C R Seabrook

Monks Way

Orpington

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