ON my discharge from York District Hospital recently I was asked if I would mind waiting for my daughter to pick me up in the new lounge, so as to free the bed earlier.

I was whisked in my wheelchair to a new patients' lounge where I was offered a sandwich and a drink. It was staffed by two nurses and a porter, at least. Only three or four people waited there in the space of one hour.

The room was vast, warm and well lit with adjacent kitchen and toilet facilities. Soft music played.

I was handed a form for suggested improvements and took the opportunity to protest at the sheer waste of resources.

The lounge adjacent to the ward was infinitely more suitable for the purpose, being within reach of qualified staff should a relapse occur, with the patient being fed from the ward trolley, in the underused dining room.

Audrey Sunman,

Lumley Road,

Burton Stone Lane, York.

Updated: 10:39 Tuesday, March 12, 2002