WILL City of York Council be spending all the extra money they get from the car parking charges on a private health call system for staff to ring when having a day off sick ("Cure row on 'sickie crisis'", September 14)?

They say staff are taking up to 28 days a year sick leave, and to help them combat this very expensive problem they are going to employ a private health call centre.

How much is this going to cost tax payers?

I thought sickness management was part of a line manager's remit. There is also the occupational health department. Why not use a computer to collate information for trouble-shooting?

If staff need medical advice about their problems why can't they use NHS Direct? I hope the private call centre would honour the patients' confidentiality - so what is the council hoping to gain besides a very large bill?

SE Jenkins,

Heath Ride,

Strensall, York.

Updated: 11:09 Wednesday, September 15, 2004