Hospital and Helioslough

SIR - The relatives of the 93-year-old lady who died in the conditions described by you (Herts Advertiser, September 17) must have been understandably distressed but it is not many years since anyone of that age was considered unfit for treatment and simply abandoned to die.

I myself am a mere 89 and have recently emerged from Watford General Hospital for the second stay involving removal of an internal tumour.

The surgery was magnificent, the aftercare faultless and personally interested and the standard of hygiene could not have been better.

Perhaps I was luckier in the ward allotted to me than the unfortunate lady.

The only mild complaint I had was the evident presence of a jinx in the kitchens where nothing one ordered ever arrived.

However what did was fresh, properly served and if it was hot food, eatable.

A more serious complaint was the nocturnal buzzing of a stonemason - or whatever - with shouts from the foreman all night from the enlargement of the football stadium literally next door. The hospital needs to be resited and should never have been built in Watford.

This brings me to a question frequently raised at the present time. How many people are actually aware that Helioslough already own the land on which they propose to build their freight terminal?

All they have to do is sit and wait while protestors and planners run round in circles wasting money which could be better spend in outbidding them for the value of the land.

I have no doubt that in the current climate, some kind of compulsory purchase could be enforced.

A new hospital could then be built on the site and Watford left to its football fans. What all this would cost I am not expert enough to know but the end would certainly justify the means and Helioslough could then take themselves elsewhere.

PL HILL

Sherland Court, Radlett