While I can appreciate the problems experienced at Debden Sorting office, the assurance that NHS letters will be delivered because they are ‘identifiable’ is little comfort to those of us that are sent vital NHS letters that are not identifiable.

As vital as vaccination letters are, there are many thousands of NHS letters that are far more urgent which are not being delivered and lives put at risk.

In my own case I have a life-threatening condition that requires me to have constant CT scans to determine urgent surgery. An appointment was sent to me on December 22 to have such a scan on January 15; it arrived on January 19! I don’t know when another can be arranged. Given that fact, Eleanor Laing MP should not be comforted that all NHS letters are being delivered because they are not.

The effects of Covid on postal services should have been anticipated and plans put into place. There are thousands unable to work at the moment and I’m sure they would have welcomed some extra cash.

As a wartime evacuee I am reminded of Operation Pied Piper. In three days, 1.5 million people were moved. 827,000 children, 524,000 mum’s with toddlers, 13,000 pregnant women, 70,000 disabled people and over a 100,000 teachers and assistants.

Today we can’t deliver letters!

Tom Benfield

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