I was disgusted to read of the way Nigel Harper was treated by his local hospital during a time when their constant support should have been always available ('He can't come back in two months. He'll be dead', G2, December 5). I have spent the last two years fighting lymphatic cancer and my treatment at the Royal Marsden in Sutton, purely on the NHS, has been nothing but exemplary. Tests and treatment have always been prompt and never cancelled. Staff have been superb, both in their friendliness and support and in their honesty and frankness. Is it really the sign of a well-run health service that treatment for such serious diseases can be so different and dependent on where one lives?
David Roberts
London
I am delighted Alan Milburn plans to address the postcode lottery for infertile women (Report, December 1) and hope the government will also look at the scandalous anomalies in the provision of abortion services. In 1999, 26% of women still had to pay to obtain a legal abortion - far higher than for any other surgery in the country; 54% of women in Solihull had to pay, whereas only 4% in south and west Devon did so.
In London, 54% of women in Redbridge and Waltham Forest had to pay, compared with 23% in Brent and Harrow health authority and 35% overall. These differences have persisted since 1968, with the West Midlands region always bottom in provision and the northern and south-western regions best for women.
The number of legal abortions is carefully monitored; the earlier the operation is done, the fewer the side effects and distress. There is good evidence about how to set up a service to minimise delay, but because of difficulties with funding and competing priorities, the inequity persists and early medical abortions (which have been introduced widely in Scotland where 95% of abortions are done by the NHS) are hard to obtain in England and Wales.
Lastly the 1967 Act does not extend to Northern Ireland and currently about 1,600 women travel to the mainland to obtain an abortion they are unable to get at home. I hope the government will listen to women and end this situation.
Wendy Savage
Doctors for a Woman's Choice on Abortion
marsh.gate@talk21.com
