Following on from our story on Michael Gove’s journalist wife writing about his visit to an NHS minor injuries unit: over last weekend
the following has just appeared on “The Sun” website:
“More than 9,000 people have shared an open letter to Ms Vine (wife of Michael Gove) from consultant Tony Cartwright, who vented his anger on Facebook. The doctor – who says he’s left Britain for Abu Dhabi after becoming fed up of Tory reforms – accuses the Goves of making ‘no effort’ and resorting instead to ‘open vitriol’.
He’s the latest medic to sound off at the Tories’ plans for a 7-day NHS, which medics say is badly thought-out and ignores the many services already offered on the weekend.
Addressing Ms Vine, Mr Cartwright wrote: “I am another UK doctor who is writing a letter to government, if only to satisfy my own anger and frustration. You must all be getting quite tired of this, really.
“Ms Vine, you took your husband to a 17 bed community hospital out of hours… and you really expected the full flow of a trauma centre? This is an unrealistic expectation and will never be the case.
We could staff Shepton Mallet Community Hospital with a 24/7 radiology department for the use of ‘people like us,’ as you describe yourself and as you suggest at the end of your missive. However I suspect your husband’s friend, Jeremy, and indeed the PM himself may have something to say about that and the funding and staffing involved.
Your nearest emergency department is either in Yeovil or Bath, both a fairly tiresome 40-60 minute drive. Had you gone to either of these hospitals you would have had an X-ray at any time of the day or night and been referred immediately to orthopaedics if required, oh, and been reviewed by a Consultant, for urgent treatment if required. That would have resolved your issue later on the Sunday, however I suspect you had many more important things to do than ensure the comfort and health of your husband.
It was your and/or your husband’s choice, for whatever reason, to not take your husband to a doctor in an emergency department in a timely fashion following his injury.
You see, with repeated changes to funding and allocation of resources within the NHS, the local A&E departments that I remember as a child have been wound down and closed.
You and your husband have the freedom to be able to choose to live in a beautiful leafy part of Somerset far from the madding crowds. Surely you could have used a little of your husband’s 10% pay rise to cover the cost of a little petrol/diesel and some hospital parking to get either to Bath or Yeovil, both centres of NHS excellence?
Your decision not to is not our fault. Do not blame us for your lack of effort or forward thinking.”
Source: The Sun Website today
East Devon Watch 