THE PM apologises to patients who are having to wait months for routine operations, to those who have had operations cancelled and to those who have to wait up to 10 hours for attention in A&E, sometimes waiting all this time on a trolley in a corridor.

The reason for these waits, according to the experts at ground level, is shortage of funding in the NHS, leading to shortage of staff and wards having to be closed temporarily because there are not enough nurses to staff them.

On the other hand the Government is pouring billions of pounds into HS2 so that passengers can get to their destinations a few minutes early, safely and in good health.

While these passengers are saving minutes, people are dying in hospitals due to lack of care, having their homes repossessed and the countryside being spoilt so that the status symbol called HS2 can be built.

It would seem that being a railway passenger is more important than being a hospital patient.

A P Cox, Heath Close, Holgate, York

Don’t blame elderly for woes of the NHS

I AM constantly reading how the NHS is struggling to cope due to the number of elderly people.

I wonder if my wife and I are so much different from others. We are both 88 years of age, born before there even was an NHS. We have not seen a doctor in the last 18 months.

I suspect that the majority of people round my age don’t bother the doctor either.

I have never been to A&E, and would not dream of trying to see a doctor unless we consider it absolutely essential.

In my younger days we could not afford to see the doctor, so usually granny did something magic and made you better. Now my wife is the granny and dishes out the wisdom.

So unless my wife and I are very much the exception to the rule, there seems to be some false news here.

When will the politicians admit that the problem is the massive increase in population demanding NHS services and stop placing the blame on the elderly.

Mr L Kemp, Wasdale Close, York

Army could fill gap in medical services

LISTENING to the various reports about the NHS struggling to cope over the festive period, I wonder could the Army Medical Corps use their services to help?

They have staff that could fill the gap until things get back to normal.

Their services can provide mobile and temporary hospital shelters where needed, and transport.

Just a thought.

Keith Chapman, Custance Walk, York