National health - I think not

We are able to put men on the moon, or fly anywhere in the world in a matter of hours but our local National Health representatives are incapable (or unwilling) of arranging treatment for their customers and patients at the nearest venue to their home.

It seems that the Chadwell Heath Clinic has GP's employed by Havering and that the clinic itself is controlled by Barking and Dagenham.

This results in patients that live within a few hundred yards of the clinic having to travel to Harold Wood, and other places, for treatment despite the facility required being available in Chadwell Heath.

This ludicrous situation is shared between Redbridge, Havering and Barking and Dagenham and despite continuous complaints and pleas for common sense, we have the sick and elderly being obliged to ferry themselves from borough to borough in order to be treated.

As an example, I have received a plea for help from an 87 year old lady who lives within 30 yards of the C.H. Clinic and requires chiropody treatment, having to traipse all the way to Harold Wood to have her nails cut.

I have written to the Secretary of State for Health and received a dismissive reply that "it is a matter for the local PCTs".

If he has neither the authority, nor the will, to do anything about it, where does that leave the remainder of us?

You may agree with me when I say that I was under the impression that we had a National Health Service and not a collection of splinter groups that were a law only unto themselves?

It appears that the sick and infirm are merely a nuisance that the blind and self-centred beaurocracy feel obliged to put up with.

At the same time, please be aware that the doctors and nurses are merely pawns in the game and are as appalled at the situation as the rest of us.

Could it just be possible that the Americans are right in their reservation regarding the adoption of a National Health Service like ours?

Cllr Terry Justice

Ashton Gardens

Chadwell Heath.