MONSIEUR – I am desperate. General practitioners’ offices are now exempt from certain medical screening tasks in order to complete booster vaccinations against Covid.
Why are fully trained immunization practitioners not being used? I am a nurse (41 years graduate), trained and certified to vaccinate. I have run flu clinics at my workplace.
Along with my two nursing colleagues, I offered my services free of charge to the NHS. We have all been told that there are enough vaccinators.
Sarah morris
Naccolt, Kent
SIR – We agree that “throwing money at GPs” is not a panacea for “increasing productivity” (Patrick O’Flynn, telegraph.co.uk). General practitioners and our teams are already working at full capacity in a workload and workforce crisis.
General medicine is the foundation of the NHS and must be adequately supported to manage the ever increasing demand for care and to ensure patient safety. The government must deliver on its clear promise of 6,000 more general practitioners by 2024 and make the work of general practitioners again manageable, so that we keep highly skilled and highly skilled family physicians in the profession, caring for patients, as long as possible.
Dr Gary Howsam
Vice-President, Royal College of General Practitioners
London NW1
SIR – I read with interest the government’s decision to allow general practitioners to suspend annual medical checks for people over 75 years old.
I am 85 years old and have never been asked to come in for a medical exam and evaluation. Am I the only one or don’t GPs usually provide this service?
James fletcher
Barmby Moor, East Yorkshire
SIR – The local pharmacist gave me the flu shot and reminders at the store. She also had my disabled wife vaccinated against the flu at home.
Why are doctors neglecting the health checks of the over 75s to do this job when pharmacists and retired medical staff are trained to administer vaccines?
Ted Bottle
Coalville, Leicestershire
SIR – After trying to understand and navigate the ever-changing Byzantine protocols needed to undertake a planned trip to France, postponed from December 2020, we gave in and canceled.
The government, having decided that it was not in a position to ban travel completely, instead built a process that makes it impractical. The risk is that a positive Covid test just before returning to Britain will confine you to a foreign country at considerable personal cost.
The cowardly politicians and their catastrophic scientific cabal have crushed me. How long can this madness reign?
Ian mackenzie
Preston, Lancashire
A murdered child
SIR – Why do social workers let themselves be fooled by plausible adult liars instead of asking to see the children themselves?
Little Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was able to express what was happening to him. My heart breaks for this little boy.
Elfrida Fallowfield
Chichester, West Sussex
SIR – The Prime Minister has promised a full investigation of those who failed to protect six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. I think we can guess what that means.
In the police and social services faulty “processes” will be blamed. We will be assured that these will be reconsidered, because “nothing like this can ever happen again”. That meaningless mantra that, as Dave Alsop rightly says (Letters, December 4) has been repeated so often, will be repeated again. But no one will be held responsible for failures.
Tim wells
Weymouth, Dorset
city swifts
SIR – Sheffield Vulcan Rotary Club recognized the loss of swifts habitat (Letters, December 3) two years ago and decided to provide free, locally made nesting boxes to schools and other establishments, like cadets of the Navy.
Residents were encouraged to join the campaign and over 200 boxes were set up across the city.
The club is working on new nesting boxes that will monitor swifts’ use and gain insight into bird nesting preferences, based on temperature and air quality.
Roger hart
Sheffield Vulcan Rotary Club
Sheffield, South Yorkshire
English-speaking jug
SIR – All the fuss about the different cooking measures in America and Great Britain.
I bought a nice English cookbook a few years ago and then got a measuring cup with English measures.
Jo e tanner
Deltona, Florida, United States
Not quite a lady
SIR – May I suggest, for a public discourse in the best interests of inclusiveness: “Ladies and gentlemen and those who are not”?
Michael cw terry
Walmer, Kent
Left with a power cut
MONSIEUR – Yesterday, I heard a “grumpy northerner” who self-admitted that those in the South-East would not have been deprived of electricity for more than a week.
While sympathizing with him, let me assure him that after the big storm of October 1987 our hamlet in West Sussex had no electricity for 10 days. Groups of Scottish engineers worked across the region to help. Candles, fuel and camping gas were rationed, if you could find them, and our adorable hamsters went into permanent hibernation because it was freezing cold.
After this experience, a wood stove and solar energy that could be stored for use in an emergency became a priority.
Helen M Abbott
Billingshurst, West Sussex
SIR – Your editorial on Saturday said: ‘We are abandoning British energy at our peril. Britain has unfortunately already enshrined the (self-imposed) climate change law into law. This prohibits us from continuing to use fossil fuels in the future. No other country in the world has been foolish enough to follow our lead.
The fact that Shell has judiciously abandoned its plans to develop new oil fields in the North Sea is only the most recent of the catastrophic energy decisions imposed on them by this government.
A few days ago, we turned down the commissioning of two huge gasoline generators if we are facing blackouts (which we will have if there is a harsh winter).
Surely one of the most irrational recent government decisions has been to deny the World Nuclear Association permission to exhibit at Cop26 because, she told candidates, there was no more room. However, there was room to accommodate groups such as the Froglife Trust and the British Dragonfly Society. This was right after the government committed £ 250million to develop Rolls-Royce’s small nuclear power plants.
We just can’t go on like this.
Paul mcclory
Oxford
Vaughan at cricket
SIR – What a pleasure to read Michael Vaughan in the Saturday sport section. At least one organization hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon without guts.
Robert chatterton
Caythorpe, Lincolnshire
Animals in the car
SIR – The complete advice of the Highway Code (Rule 277) on the behavior to be held with the animals in the event of breakdown on freeway (Letters of December 4) is as follows: “Animals must be kept in the vehicle or, in emergency, under edge control. ”This is intended to protect all road users and, indeed, pets.
Edmond King
AA President
Basingstoke, Hampshire
Stay away from the blues
SIR – I recommend to the Duke of Cambridge (report, December 5) to buy an electric guitar, an amplifier and some lessons. There is nothing more satisfying than mastering your favorite riffs and AC / DC Back in black is a classic.
Michael heaton
Warminster, Wiltshire
SIR – The Duke is welcome to AC / DC rock music to start his week off right.
JS Bach had his own solution. His Gigue Fugue in G major, BWV 577, is nicer to the ear and never fails to cheer me up on Monday mornings.
Wendy strathdee
Burnham, Buckinghamshire
