I probably owe my life to the out-of-hours doctors

Published: 16 September, 2010

• “NO one I know trusts Camidoc,” Stephen Hargreave sweepingly asserts (Why this support for Camidoc? Letters September 9).

Well, I can’t speak for his acquaintances (has he asked them all?), but I, for one, feel I probably owe my life to the service he maligns.

I visited my GP one Friday morning two summers ago feeling lethargic and aching all over my body. 

She examined me and could find nothing obviously wrong, but took a blood test that was promptly sent off for analysis.

That evening I received a phone call from a Camidoc doctor who told me that the results had come in and revealed that my electrolytes were significantly awry. Calmly, but firmly, he suggested that this was not something that could be treated at home and that I should therefore make my way to my nearest accident and emergency department without delay.

Within minutes of my arrival at the hospital bearing the figures he had given me, I found myself strapped to an electrocardiogram machine and attached to a drip, as I was apparently in grave danger of  having a heart attack. 

Had the results of my blood test been left to languish until my GP returned to her surgery on Monday, I would almost certainly have done so.

The alertness of the out-of-hours doctor prevented that, so personally I deeply regret the passing of Camidoc and only hope that the service which replaces it proves as vigilant and effective.
Colin Ludlow
Gloucester Avenue, NW1 

Counting costs

• JENNY Wright (Letters, September 9) says; “The cost of our aging population is calculated by the IMF to be... almost £200,000 for every British household – are we prepared, or able, to fund our health services to this amount?” 

I’m not sure whether, at 65, I come into the category of “our aging population”; if I do I would inform Ms Wright that I can’t remember the last time I visited my doctor!  

In any case this seems like a very callous statement; what alternative does Ms Wright suggest? Compulsory euthanasia at age 70?

I would ask how much the proposed renewal of Trident or the continuing action in Afghanistan costs “every British household”. At least “funding our health services” is conducive to life; these are conducive to death (especially Trident; the threat to this country is no longer from the “Cold War” but from terrorists including suicide bombers who, by definition, would not be deterred by any weapon). 

She also advocates the system in various other countries of “mixed public and private schemes... insurance, means-testing, payment for hospital and doctor visits”.  

How could people on minimal incomes pay either insurance premiums or for “hospital and doctor visits”?  

Her proposals would result in a two-tier system; not to mention the end of the NHS as we know it: one which provides treatment free at the point of issue.
Margaret King,
NW3