Sir, – I was vacationing in Scotland in September and came down with a urinary tract infection.
I was instructed by a doctor in the village of Blair Atholl to go to the minor injury centre at Pitlochry community hospital.
Upon entering the hospital, I approached the front counter and explained to the receptionist that I was from the United States and believed I had a urinary tract infection.
She motioned to an adjoining room and asked me to have a seat.
Before long, I was ushered into an examination room by a nurse named, I believe, Trish Saunders
She listened to my recent health issues, which included heart surgery and gave me a thorough examination.
After determining that I did have an infection, she gave me a packet of antibiotics that would see me through my long plane trip back to the United States.
I told her that I had insurance that I believed would cover treatment in a foreign country and she made a copy of my card.
What impressed me was the speed at which I was seen, the thoroughness of the visit and the lack of red tape, something that is all too common now in the United States.
My country has been arguing for decades about whether to institute a single-payer system, all to no avail.
Our congressmen and women should visit Scotland to see how patient-friendly such a system can be.
Elizabeth Snyder.
715 Butterfly Drive,
Upper Sandusky.
Ohio.
Why high rises in health service?
Sir, – Can someone please explain why NHS senior managers paid more than the First Minister or Prime Minister receive pay rises of more than three times the rate of inflation when NHS Scotland is in financial crisis?
Garry Barnett.
The Garden House,
Campsie Hill,
Guildtown.
Put care before Brexit strategy
Sir, – Why does it seem, whenever a Holyrood opposition politician questions the Scottish Government on the performance of the Scottish NHS, we are told it is performing better than in England?
This may or may not be the case. I don’t care. The NHS has been under Holyrood’s control since 1999 and been the remit of the SNP for 10 years.
Ms Sturgeon should accept responsibility for such issues as recently raised by Audit Scotland over missed waiting-time targets, the GP staffing crisis and unrealistic savings targets.
She was health secretary for many years and now has ultimate responsibility.
Most of us would prefer if she focused on the NHS rather than obsessing over Brexit.
Martin Redfern.
4 Royal Circus,
Edinburgh.
Find out more about autism
Sir, – As director of a school which specialises in education for boys with additional support needs, and one of the first independent schools in Scotland to be awarded Autism Accreditation by the National Autistic Society, I was saddened to read its recent report that only one in six autistic people is in full-time paid work.
The findings show only 16% of autistic people are in full-time work compared with 80% of the general population and 47% of disabled people.
It is for this reason that I wish to join the National Autistic Society in calling for more training, not only for people who are working to help people with autism find a job, but prospective employers.
While one of the difficulties facing people with autism is the number of employers who do not understand autism, it is also true that employers are not aware of the huge contribution that people with autism can make to the workplace in terms of the specialist skills they have to offer and a pride in their work.
If employers were given the resources and training to better understand the condition and how to support those with autism, the interview and employment process could be adjusted accordingly.
I would urge employers to find out more about autism, allowing them to see past the label and what an asset to their company autistic people could be.
Stuart Jacob.
Falkland House School,
Falkland.
Will principles stretch to jail?
Sir, – It is not clear from his letter (October 27) what Stuart Wishart’s position would be if a baker refused to decorate a cake with, happy birthday and God bless you.
Would Mr Wishart defend the baker’s conscientious refusal, his support extending as far as prison or death?
Gordon Dilworth.
20 Baledmund Road,
Pitlochry.
Poor reflection on Christianity
Sir, – Stuart Wishart (October 27) sees the Ashers cake dispute from the sole standpoint of Christians.
He claims that “there is a danger that our equality laws are not leading in the direction of freedom at all, but rather to a highly controlled regime”.
Rather, equality laws are leading away from the highly controlled regime that is Christianity with its abhorrent record of persecution of gay people down the centuries.
He also engages in his very own project fear by suggesting that Christians “will be forced by law to supply products which promote a cause they oppose, based on their beliefs”.
This is nonsense. Mr Wishart’s arguments only serve to illustrate Christians think themselves so superior that they are to enjoy special privileges in addition to exemptions from equality legislation, based on their beliefs.
Only militant Christianity could claim the right to practise prejudice towards gay people and then play the victim card when challenged. It is a very poor advertisement indeed for organised religion.
Alistair McBay.
National Secular Society,
5 Atholl Crescent,
Edinburgh.
Sea border needs rethink
Sir, – The matter of the location of the maritime border between Scotland and England needs to be addressed and brought to the attention of Scottish people.
When Prime Minister Tony Blair and First Minister Donald Dewar were in power, the maritime border was redrawn at more than 100 miles north of the land border at Berwick-upon-Tweed, despite the pre-1999 border already favouring England.
In 1994, the head of the Maritime Section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had queried that it was too favourable to England.
His opinion was that it was essential that Scotland was not conned into accepting the boundary in existence at that time.
Beverley J. Burns.
Beverley Hill,
Petterden,
Tealing.
A clear threat to basic freedom
Sir, – On October 28, I was walking through Dundee city centre and I saw a large pro-life demonstration.
It upsets me that a disturbing number of people believe in taking away such a fundamental right as control over one’s own body.
I felt compelled to write this letter to stand against what feels like such a dangerous threat to what is clearly such an important freedom.
Cyrus Allen.
32 Union Street,
Dundee.