WITHIN hours of reading the report, Save mental health unit, says GP (Times, February 26), I received news that a gentleman friend, a carer to his wife for the last year, has Alzheimer's. What an awful double blow, I hear your readers say!
The news of a husband and wife with dementia certainly shows that Dr Paul Nielson, a general practitioner, is right in stating that the misery of the condition cannot be underestimated. The GP highlighting the situation is correct , too, in calling for people to put pen to paper to write letters to the MP and Dr Kevin Snee, the chief executive of Devon Primary Care Trust, asking for the mental health unit to come off 'suspension' at the Okehampton Community Hospital.
The need is here there and everywhere. The NHS is, of course, stretched nowadays, but we must face facts. People, whether elderly or not, are important and those suffering dementia must not be ignored.
So, for everyone concerned in the community, let us please see a gold standard service restored without delay.
The above message is written on behalf of the suffering and disadvantaged people who are unable now to express themselves and to make their voices heard in a way they would have previously wished.
Donald Bibey
Okemoor Park
Okehampton