Letters: the NHS shutdown is hurting patients and costing lives

Poor treatment

Sir: My recent experience supports Dr Max Pemberton’s view that the NHS is letting down thousands of patients (‘Nothing to applaud’, 30 May). I am a 71-year-old living alone, with no symptoms of coronavirus. For several weeks I have, however, been experiencing severe pain in my left hip. A consultation with my GP diagnosed that I needed a shot of cortisone to reduce the inflammation, but I was told that the NHS was unable to offer clinical consultations due to a focus on the crisis. I was unable to cope with the pain any longer, so my daughter arranged a private consultation and an injection at a cost of £220.

My heart problem is potentially more serious and is proving more difficult to resolve. After a severe chest infection at Christmas I admitted myself to hospital, where they discovered that I had atrial fibrillation and was a stroke risk. I was prescribed blood-thinning tablets and beta blockers and booked in for treatment in April. This was postponed indefinitely in May because of the pandemic crisis. I am still waiting to hear when I will be seen.

There are thousands of people out there in a worse position than me, and I strongly suspect that when this is all over we will discover that the suffering caused by our attempts to control the virus will have far exceeded that caused by the virus itself.
Clive Moffatt
London SW1

A clap for selflessness

Sir: I believe that Dr Max Pemberton’s article (30 May) reflects a misplaced understanding of why most people applauded NHS staff each Thursday evening. It was for the swaths of workers who undertook their duties under horrendous conditions. As we remember soldiers rather than the rights and wrongs of why they fought, similarly the Thursday evening clap was a sign of appreciation for selfless actions.