Letter: Shock for Mr Lansley over night discharging of patients

The discharge of elderly and vulnerable patients during the hours of darkness is not a recent innovation; regrettably this has been all too common in many 'hot and heavy' trusts for some time, as the pursuit of budget driven targets take precedence over common sense and patient care.

It therefore comes as no surprise that the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley 'didn't know about patients thrown out at night'; for far removed, and in the safety of his Whitehall office, he frankly hasn't a clue how the National Health Service functions at ground floor level.

As a newly appointed non-executive director I arrived quite unannounced one Saturday evening at Accident & Emergency and worked a night shift and despite being hauled in front of my chairman the following day, this valuable experience taught me more about my hospital than the daily bundles of official paperwork which arrived through my letterbox.

Mr Lansley could do no better than to follow my example.

Boy, would he in for a shock!

Peter Sayles

Oswestry