Patients get the blame

I would just like to say that a couple of months ago I was referred to hospital so I went to see the doctor and the outcome was to be assessed by a session on the treadmill.

When I got home, I thought, I will not be able to do that properly, because of arthritis in one knee. So, I immediately phoned up, talked to the doctors assistant and explained about the arthritis. He said fine, you can have a scan instead, I will cancel the treadmill. I got my letter for the scan quite quickly, then the week after, the letter for a treadmill appointment came through. I phoned up once again to cancel the treadmill, and explained why, and they said ok they would see to it.

I proceeded to have the scan a few weeks later, then a letter arrived telling me that I had missed my treadmill appointment, so another phone call was made. I told them what had occurred, at the end of the day, the patients seem to be getting the blame for not attending, but it is not always the case, so how many of the statistics will be counted as not attending, like mine, just saying.

PJ Hunt

Sheffield, S12

Problems brushed over

Cyril Olsen, (May 4), alleges I did not in my last letter set out the Leave campaign promises which have proved to be false. In fact I wrote that Boris Johnson claimed that we could leave the EU without any problems with continuing to trade with the EU, with total access to the Single Market, without paying in or obeying any of the rules on environmental protection, workers’ rights, food quality etc. This has proved false, with negotiations dragging on now for nearly two years. The Leave campaign glossed over the problem of creating a land border across Ireland, thus putting the Peace Agreement at risk.

I did not go into huge detail as the recent news has been full of the difficulties for us if we do drop out of the EU without any agreement: for example, we would no longer enjoy the trade agreements with other countries we enjoy with the rest of the world through the EU, and as a single country, the UK would have difficulty in negotiating any better deals than we already enjoy as part of a large trading block. (Germany manages to export eight times more to China than we do within the EU.) Also negotiating such agreements will take a lot of time. As Liam Fox has discovered, third countries are not lining up to do deals that will be very favourable to us; President Trump has made that very clear, and both India and China will also put their own interests first. In the interim we would be subject to World Trade conditions which would put tariffs on the 48% of our trade which is done with the EU, and make uneconomic all the manufacturing of components for cars and aircraft currently crossing borders seamlessly, leading major companies to move to within the Single Market.

Another problem not mentioned was the transport of much of our fresh food from Spain and France which currently comes speedily through the Channel Tunnel with no hold ups, and our own exports to the EU. With checks at the borders, since the Leave campaign said we would no longer obey any of the regulations on hygiene and food safety, we could see massive lorry queues at Dover, Folkestone and Calais, with a very detrimental effect on the freshness of the produce.

The downside to our economy has yet to really take effect as we are still EU members, despite the best efforts of our Government to impoverish everywhere outside the South East, with the lowest economic growth in the G7 . As EU members we have enjoyed many improvements to the quality of our environment etc, and they have been beneficial to us both financially and economically. The Leave campaign promised £350 million a week savings, but failed to subtract the rebate negotiated by Mrs Thatcher, or the money that has come back to areas like South Yorkshire to help us rebuild our local economy. The remainder is likely to be more than subsumed by the tariffs we shall have to pay on our exports and imports and the adverse effect on our economy should we have a “hard” Brexit.

Veronica Hardstaff

Northfield Court, S10

Betraying the people

May I say how I enjoy reading the interesting letters from Cyril Olsen and Terry Palmer, especially their views on the EU which I wholeheartedly agree with.

It is a shameful state of affairs that following the majority decision of the British electorate to Leave the EU in the 2016 Referendum we now have a doddery, unelected bunch of has-beens in the House of Lords and many Remainer politicians plotting and scheming in their deplorable efforts to sabotage Brexit as they refuse to accept the democratic will of the people. These Remainers are a disgrace for lacking the confidence in our country to operate as an independent nation which we have done successfully for hundreds of years prior to joining the corrupt EU (previously the Common Market). They also insult the intelligence of those who elected to Leave by saying we didn’t understand what we were voting for. Of course we understood as it was made quite clear that our exit from the EU would necessitate leaving the customs union in order to trade freely with the rest of the world, protect our borders and take control of immigration, and regain our status as a sovereign nation in which we could once again make our laws in our own Parliament instead of being dictated to by Brussels. Those who are trying to derail Brexit are betraying the people of our great country and are very fortunate they didn’t live a few hundred years ago as then they would have been dispatched to the Tower of London and eventually executed for treason. If the Government disregard the wishes of the British people and fail to deliver the Brexit they voted for they will do so at their own peril as there will be millions who, like myself, will never enter a Polling Station again as what would be the use of voting in a country where democracy has died.

Susan Richardson

Westminster Crescent, Lodge Moor, Sheffield, S10

Wedding dress

They say that Meghan Markle’s dress will set the Royal family back £100.000, what is more likely is the British tax payer will pick up the tab, along with the cost of Meghan’s parents jetting in from America, the next time the Royals pay for anything will be a first.

EB Warris

Sheffield, S14