IT IS perhaps significant that Kevin McGee makes no mention of medical units in his upbeat assessment of the local Hospitals NHS Trust.

I had two weeks to observe this first hand recently. As always, all such available doctors and paramedics, and 90 per cent of nurses, gave skilled and compassionate service.

The problem is the lack of doctors, sonic-internal analysts and so on. GPs have to ask for patients to be admitted to ensure they get vital tests done. In medical units, most treatment cannot be delayed on waiting lists, so instead, the writing up and communication back to the GP after discharge can take weeks until there is time.

In Medical One I noticed that 70 per cent of nurses' time is spent on urine and excreta that get to the sheets and in persuading patients to order from the excellent menu and then eat.

Premiers Thatcher and Major shut the specialist units for the demented and geriatric. Then they cut back the places in medical schools hoping the issue would disappear somewhere. Now their fancy ideas are coming home to roost.

However, it would be comforting to know from Mr Cumming that the shortages of key medical staff is due to a national situation and not to cost-cutting prior to the recent, abortive foundation-trust bid.

M R Jackson, Hest Bank.