Madam, – My poor 90-year-old father-in-law who has terminal bowel cancer, dementia, asbestosis, familial tremors, double incontinence, and limited mobility, has been discharged for the third time from Roxburghe House, the specialist palliative care unit in Dundee, because he is not unwell enough to remain there.
He requires 24-hour nursing care and we have been told that there is no NHS provision to meet his care needs and the only option is that of a nursing home facility at a cost of £1,150 per week!
He has now moved to what is essentially a private healthcare facility.
My father-in-law worked from the age of 14 to 65 in the shipyards of the Clyde as a manual worker.
He married in his early 20s and he and my mother-in-law saved for their future with every hard earned penny.
He didn’t smoke, drink or gamble and they both had a very strong work ethic.
Their honest, hard earned savings over many, many years enabled them to eventually buy their own modest two-bedroomed house where they retired to in the 90s.
My father-in-law’s house will now have to be sold to finance his nursing home placement, and not left to his two grandchildren as has always been his wish and motivation.
However, had he not worked and saved every penny, year after year, but instead smoked, drunk, had holidays, and generally squandered his money away, without making any effort to save for the future, all of his nursing home care would be paid for by the local authority, with no requirement for him to make any contribution whatsoever!
Is this a fair system?
Graham Haddow.
23 Church Road,
Liff, Dundee.
Unrealistic returns policy
Madam, – Your readers may not be aware of a recently introduced and largely unpublicised new returns policy at Morrisons.
The supermarket now totally refuses to consider returns unless accompanied by the receipt for the original purchase
In effect, this means that all items purchased from Morrisons in your store cupboard should be accompanied by the receipt of their purchase in case of a later problem – or you may choose to use a retailer with a more realistic returns policy.
T N Bone.
7 Forbes Place,
St Andrews.
Long train trip, terrible service
Madam, – We took a trip from Leuchars to Tiverton in May.
Cross Country Trains have a direct route, so we booked with them. The return route was: Tiverton Parkway to Birmingham New Street. Change to Virgin East Coast then to Preston and then on to Edinburgh Haymarket. Then to Leuchars.
Home in time for tea? Dream on, suckers.
Cross Country organised passenger assistance for us.
Lovely in writing, but a fairy tale in reality. Birmingham New Street was the only place we got help.
Tiverton Parkway is excluded from any blame. One hour into our trip, a ticket check took place. We had seat reservations, but no tickets. These had been removed in error by ScotRail staff, in a pre-journey ticket check.
Eventually our tickets were signed off by the train conductor. We were met by a relative, but a porter, unasked, took care of our luggage at Tiverton.
The journey home was an unmitigated nightmare, apart from the staff at New Street.
There was an overhead line fault. Virgin East Coast, however, should hang their heads in shame. We were given no meaningful information, indeed all of their platform staff disappeared.
We were left to wonder if we were ever going to get home.
Eventually we got to Leuchars five hours and 18 minutes late. The station was deserted.
We finally got home to Anstruther at 11.40pm, exhausted.
Bill Ledger.
43 Dreelside,
Anstruther.
NHS, we’d be lost without you
Madam, – The NHS and the Victoria Hospital come in for a lot of stick, but I would like to praise them both to the hilt.
My hubby recently needed medical attention and appointments and examinations were set up swiftly.
This week we learned that he has Stage 1 prostate cancer which is 98% curable.
Thanks to our GP and all the staff at the urology department at the Victoria who have dealt with this so incredibly well.
It’s not just about their medical expertise which, of course, is invaluable, but their compassion and kindness that helps make a difficult situation a little bit easier.
So, a huge thank you to you all, we would be lost without you.
Maggie Taylor.
7 Mathieson Court,
Auchtermuchty.
What kind of choice is this?
Madam, – After watching the recent debate on TV between the candidates for the Tory leadership ( and de facto PM), I feel increasing angry and frustrated.
The choice is between two candidates who acted like they were in a row about ‘rugger’ in the ‘dorm’ of a public school ( something they both would be familiar with).
The debate lacked any discussion of political principles or practical policies.
If this is the choice to be made by Tory Party members, most of whom live in the south-east of England, then the future looks grim indeed.
Perhaps it is time we looked towards the life- boat of independence to escape the Titanic of England with Captain Johnson at the helm.
God save us all.
Brian Batson.
Lour Road ,
Forfar.
Top-heavy BBC not giving value
Madam, – The list of salaries for the top BBC earners is obscene.
I do not know the number of times the highest earner – £1.7 million – appears in a year but I guess the average cost of each appearance will be a few hundred pounds.
Slightly more than 11,000 licence payers are required to cover this salary.
Are we getting value for money ?
I, for one, do not think this is anything like value for my money.
Should the politicians not start a review of BBC expenditure with the purpose of giving licence payers a better deal ?
I happen to know that in South Africa a licence costs around £20 per annum.
A A Bullions.
6 Glencairn Crescent,
Leven, Fife.
