Letters to the Editor - 06th March 2008

Mar 6 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

We need our care homes

IT WAS with great sadness that I read recently of the proposed closure of two council care homes. At a time when Liverpool is supposedly regenerating, it appears to be a very sad state of affairs that we can not provide a decent level of choice to older people in terms of what care they can have.

I was under the impression that, with the increase in investment in Liverpool, this would enable us to once again become a “world-class” city.

Does this not include caring for our citizens? Or does it only apply to having improved shopping facilities, over-priced apartments and the continued gentrification of the city centre?

My elderly father recently received an excellent standard of care at one of the homes earmarked for closure (Leighton Dene) and it would not be an exaggeration to say he is here today thanks to the respite care he received.

It appears that those in control are ambivalent towards such excellent services. I hope they remember these decisions when they or their family members are in need of such care.

I would implore those in power at the Town Hall to reconsider this proposal and use that rare commodity “common sense”, and show that they really do care for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Anthony Beyga, West Derby

The whole story

I HAVE just received a letter attached to my regular prescription signed by the doctor, asking me to protect my local NHS surgery by writing to the Primary Care Trust, health board in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, telling them I do not agree with these changes and I do not want them.

I am also asked to write to my local or national press and my Member of Parliament to say I do not want to see the breaking up of the NHS general practice. This I am more than happy to do.

What is more disturbing is that Wirral PCT is re-assuring me that even the fact it is privatising the NHS services in many areas they are improving the NHS service. Surely they can’t both be right. So who is telling the truth?

I would like someone to explain how grouping doctors into a “polyclinic” with fewer locations than we have a present is an improvement, and how does a private medical establishment with shareholders, prove to be cheaper and more efficient than your main hospital, which does not make a profit but provides the same services, and you do not have to pay charges.

Nationally, eight out of 10 patients say they are happy with the present GP service and the current opening hours, yet the PCT claims that the proposed improvements are “patient friendly” and responding to “consumer demand”, so who is telling the whole story?

Name and address supplied

Eye exam

THERE are half a million people in the UK with the eye condition glaucoma, half of whom don't know they have it and are at risk of losing their sight unnecessarily. Untreated, glaucoma can lead to irreversible sight loss. If caught early, through a simple eye test, glaucoma can be easily treated and your sight can be saved.

Today is the first World Glaucoma Day. Organisations such as Glaucoma Alliance UK are raising awareness and encouraging everyone to get an eye test.

Glaucoma doesn't have any symptoms in its early stages and people can lose up to 40% of their sight before they realise they have a problem.

You may also be entitled to a free eye test. If you are over 40 and have a relative with glaucoma, have diabetes, are aged 60 or over, or are in receipt of certain benefits you can get a free NHS eye test.

Don't delay, make March 6, World Glaucoma Day, the day that you find out if you are one in half a million – get an eye test.

Sir Trevor McDonald OBE

More funding

IT IS really good news that Merseyside is to get £212m of dedicated European funding over the next six years. This comes on top of the last two rounds of Objective 1 funding and shows the commitment of Europe to our area.

Of course, some sceptics will take the old line that this is only “our money” that we are getting back. Though this is partly true, another way of looking at it is that at least Europe is prepared to commit to funding development in our region over a number of years. This is in contrast to our own Government which seems to blow hot and cold from one week to the next when it comes to funding projects.

Who can forget the way the plug was pulled on the Merseytram scheme at the last minute, or the fact that so little extra funding was provided from Whitehall for Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture 2008?

People in Merseyside and the wider North are growing sick and tired of the Government’s excuses for not funding vital projects in our part of the country at the same time as pouring billions into vanity projects like the 2012 London Olympics.

Given this, it is doubly good that Europe is backing our region. It is not all good news, though. Can anyone tell us why some of this precious EU money is being squandered on the wasteful and destructive Edge Lane West scheme?

SJ Arpent, L8

Over-stretched

DAVID CAMERON’S launch of a Military Covenant Commission, to examine ways of restoring the link between our Armed Forces and the nation, is to be commended.

The birth of the Covenant can be traced back to 1593, when the law dictated that parishes should contribute to the welfare of sick and wounded veterans.

Recent events, however, show that the Covenant has been broken. Returning soldiers are placed on civilian wards and servicemen and their families are forced to live in substandard housing.

On active service, the forces are over-stretched and left to operate with inadequate equipment.

There is no long-term strategy to treat wounded veterans.

It is against this background that the Conservatives will strive to give our Armed Forces the respect and attention that they are due. Everybody in this country has friends or family who are serving, or who have served, in the military. It’s part of our national conscience.

People can read the agenda of the Commission at www.militarycovenantcommission.com

Neil Wilson, Conservative spokesman, West Derby

Bad new days

SARAH SMITH writes in the Post “Budget Debate” (March 3) that we should have nothing to worry about, and that things as she describes them in the “bad old days” where much worse. She then pleads for votes for the Lib-Dems by giving us reasons such as being clean, green and economically vibrant.

Let me inform Sarah Smith that certain parts of our city look like a dog’s toilet and are certainly not clean. As for being green, our recycling record is appalling, with Liverpool being near bottom of the league, as reported in the Daily Post recently. And on the economy let me remind her that the independent Audit Commission has just placed Liverpool bottom of the league for financial management and informed us that we waste £101 per household, also reported in the Post. The bad old days have been replaced by bad new days.

Dot Johnston, Stoneycroft

Match-day crime

ELEVEN people were arrested after up to 100 football hooligans were involved in a brawl in Coventry.

Police believe the violence was pre-arranged, witnesses reported seeing men on mobile phones shortly before trouble broke out and knives were seized before the Leicester City match on February 23.

A steward was killed earlier in the season trying to stop a fight between Coventry and Preston supporters.

Why am I so concerned with what happens at Coventry? Because the Tesco planning application suggests that the proposed “regeneration of Kirkby town centre” will be a similar redevelopment to Coventry.

Crime against the person rises by 21% on match days, and that was before these incidents.

So we all know what we have to look forward to if this ludicrous proposal goes ahead in a residential area.

Wayne Tully, Kirkby

Amazing work

THE tragic death of poor Rhys Jones is one of the most disturbing incidents to have befallen Merseyside in recent years but the way that the little boy’s family has behaved in the time since has been incredible.

Their pain must be intolerable as they grieve for their boy and lament the fact that his killer has yet to be brought to justice, yet they have managed to keep going and appear to be doing all in their power to change and improve the society they live in.

The football tournament highlighted in Tuesday’s Daily Post is one such example of the amazing work they are doing and I hope it gets the support it deserves.

G Howells, Aintree

Selling its soul

RE: THE Superlambanana campaign. The Superlambanana is a Scouser and it should not be allowed to do a Rooney and sell its soul to the Mancs.

S Cruse, Walton

Lasting the course

I NOTED with interest that number one on the card in the 3.20 at Newcastle the other day was “Prince among men”.

Like Prince Harry, he didn’t finish the course.

J Morris, Hoylake

Cemetery concern

WHILE attending our local cemetery with my brother on Sunday for Mother’s Day, we saw an ice cream van parked inside by the gates. What's the world coming to?

Ged and Paul, Litherland