THANK you for your public spirited stance in publicising (Hereford Times, June 2) the plight of County's rural patients requiring orthopaedic care who, if the Hereford Hospitals Trust "referral gateway" remains firmly shut, will be sent to out-of-county hospitals.
Since you rightly refer in your Editorial to "flaws in local planning" perhaps we could have an explanation as to why a current contract, that allows orthopaedic referrals to Hereford County Hospital from areas like Llandrindod Wells and Ludlow, are allowed to continue uninterrupted.
Indeed, one might legitimately ask why, in view of all the well-known local capacity constraints and long established waiting list targets, was such a contract let in the first place? Because we greatly value the highly professional care received when being treated at the County Hospital we feel that we should not be denied this choice.
BETTY TILFORD,
Woodside, Bowley Lane, Bodenham.
A hospital spokesman said that most patients had come from Powys and would have made no significant difference: the hospital also had a contractual obligation to take them.
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