I THOUGHT you would like to know what we do as "drivers with first-aid training" (Cheap Option=Bad Service: union chief slams ambulance sell-off plan as hospital faces crunch talks).

All the patient transport staff are trained in patient examination and assessment at the scene of an incident. We are trained in oxygen therapy and we are trained in basic life support with the back-up of an automated external defibrillator.

We also assist Accident & Emergency with patient transfers hospital to hospital, to the patient's home, nursing home and hospice. These are ill people, all this is done with dignity and respect for the patient. The service is patient-led and we are trained to deal with patients with care and respect.

This is what the Yorkshire Ambulance Service PTS drivers with "some first-aid skills" do and all this is done with the patient coming first.

We are proud to be in the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and your public service.

Gordon Goodwin, Staff liaison for York, Selby and Bramham Patient Transport Service, Nunthorpe Crescent, York.

MAY I, through the courtesy of your columns, express my gratitude towards the first responder, ambulance crew, York Hospital accident and emergency unit, the orthopaedic consultants, the staff of Ward 28 and the outpatients department, for the outstanding care and solicitude they have recently shown towards me.

Ms K J Brown, Ashbrook Close, Uttoxeter.