MADAM, It was my misfortune to have to spend Christmas in hospital. It was the first time I had been in a civilian hospital as a patient.

As I lay ill in bed various thoughts began to run through my mind.

Politicians, I thought, as supposedly is their duty, publicly criticise the NHS, with a view to improving it, giving examples of its failures. The press, as is its duty, reports the criticisms and failures, and also the occasional bad apple among doctors and nurses.

And yet, I thought, as I lay there, the bricks and mortar, the heart and soul and backbone of the NHS are its people, like the ones who, in their many different ways, were caring for me.

What struck me most was not so much what they did, which was very expert and competent, as one would expect. It was the manner in which they did it: with sensitivity, with the utmost kindness and consideration, with unending good humour, even when under considerable pressure. And they did all this while most of the rest of the country was relaxing at home enjoying the seasonal cheer.

And I thought that I have been in danger, what with the incessant reports of the criticisms and failures, of losing my sense of perspective and of beginning to take the exceptional and marginal as being the typical. And what about the effect on the morale of the staff of these reports?

The least I could do personally, I thought, was to write to you, Madam, and suggest that your readers do what I shall do when I read or hear similar criticisms of, and reports of failures in, the NHS.

What I shall do is always to remember that 99.99% of the staff of the NHS are not only doing a wonderful job but doing it in a wonderfully personal and compassionate way and that they deserve our deep appreciation and gratitude.

F G HOLMAN,

The Meadows,

Much Birch.