A few years ago I was biking to a York Astronomical Society meeting at a local school. I hit a series of road bumps that caused me to fall head over heels.

My head hit the rocky floor, causing me to black out. When my senses returned I was temporarily completely paralysed. Luckily two school pupils came to my help.

I went to my surgery the following day and my doctor chastised me for not attending A&E. My reply was I was too stressed to wait several hours there.

I wonder if Ethan Bradley, the cycle courier who tragically died several days after being knocked unconscious when his head hit the ground in the accident outside York Railway Station, experienced this same situation when he first visited A&E? You report that he ‘left before being examined by a doctor’ (Courier died from a fractured skull, August 5).

Our health services have been close to meltdown for many years, with no real infrastructure in place. I am not criticising A&E, who are doing a sterling job. But being starved of cash for decades creates an imbalance between private and social care.

Phil Shepherdson,Woodthorpe