As the sad state of the NHS goes from bad to worse, can someone please tell me why it costs this country £200 million a year for agency nurses?

Why doesn't the Government realise that if they paid our hardworking, over stressed, underpaid nurses a decent wage it would cost not half of that amount?

A nurse is on roughly £12.500 a year, £3,000 less than a teacher, £8,000 less than a policeman and yet has to be all of those people rolled into one.

It's a sad state of affairs when a citizen must be looked after abroad because there are no intensive care beds here; where relatives wash, feed and shave patients and where a woman of 101 is treated in a corridor! We must look for a longer-term solution in terms of funding, organisation and private sector involvement.

Hospital bosses must also bear some of the responsibility. These high-earners should be accountable for the scandal in our hospitals. Spare space in the private sector must be used for NHS patients so that no health facility is left unused.

C Henson,

Moorcroft Road,

Woodthorpe,

York.

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