Madam, - On a recent visit to Spain I fell and broke two bones in my left arm. There were 80 people in the waiting room of the casualty department I visited. Even though it was 9pm on holiday Monday of Easter Week there were four X-ray units working.
I was seen, X-rayed, plastered and on my way back to my hotel inside two hours! I bought the painkiller prescribed in a local pharmacy and it cost me 95 cent.
Well done Spain, well done the Spanish health service; it reminded me of what our own used to be like.
As I expected, a subsequent visit to the fracture clinic of my local hospital for a second plaster was a different story. It involved a wait of two-and-a-half-hours, longer than it took to be assessed, X-rayed and plastered in Spain.
My GP couldn't refer me to the fracture clinic; I had to visit A&E first. Why wouldn't our accident and emergency departments be crowded? - Yours, etc,
TONY EGAN, Heathervue, Greystones, Co Wicklow.