THE NHS and in particular our local hospitals, seem to get a bad press.

Recently, my mam was in the University Hospital of North Durham, having suffered a massive stroke.

She was taken to A&E with no hope of survival.

From there she was put on an acute ward where she later died.

On both these wards the family sat with her for three days and nights, never leaving her side. All the time we were there, the nursing staff looked after us with sandwiches, coffee and tea etc, always making sure we had everything we wanted. Bear in mind, it was New Year's Eve and they were so busy. Shortage of beds, we understood, were one of their problems.

I want to give the praise that these staff so richly deserve. They are under-staffed, over-worked but oh so caring.

God bless them all.

Lynn Cook, Bishop Auckland.

RECENT reports on various hospitals up and down the country failing to cope with a rise in A&E numbers are a concern but, to some of us who have seen the demise of the NHS over many years, it is no surprise.

The problems at Scarborough Hospital have been partly attributed to difficulties in recruiting staff.

This situation also occurs in local health practices in Darlington. The surgery managers report that they cannot attract doctors because of our pay and management system.

We are told the NHS cannot attract young people who, after qualifying, disappear into private practice or leave for better offers abroad.

I am a member of a local Patient Participation Group (PPG) in Darlington, and the overriding subject at our meetings is Government interference with management and the imposition of targets that are impractical to install or to achieve.

When will Whitehall understand that the NHS cannot be marketed as a Sainsbury, Waitrose, Tesco or a Lidl? Accidents, illness and emergency treatment cannot be programmed by market research and market forces.

Over the past four decades respective governments have interfered with a machine that was not broken.

Just before the NHS came into existence, British households received a leaflet about the service. One phrase in it summed up the impact of the NHS. "It will relieve your money worries in time of illness." One of the shadows over the lives of British people had been removed.

Danny Boyle put the NHS at the Centre of British achievement at the opening of the 2012 Olympics in London.

Nye Bevan would be outraged to see his great creation turned into a "Frankenstein Monster" by the petty squabbling of politicians attempting to be supermarket managers.

D Marshall, Darlington.