Here are this week’s letters:

Deeply concerned about Labour’s approach to strike threat

FOR the first time in 60 years GPs have voted in favour of industrial action, which will disrupt the lives of families up and down the UK and prevent people from getting the essential medical care they need.

This comes after the Government gave Junior Doctors a 22 per cent pay rise to settle their industrial dispute, costing the taxpayer billions (with public sector pay rises making up over 52 per cent per cent of the so called ‘black hole’ Rachel Reeves claims to have found in the public finances).

As well as being an exceptionally large pay rise at a time where the Chancellor herself is emphasising the strain on public finances, this pay rise has let other unions know that the Government is willing to bow to their demands.

Taken in conjunction with this Government’s plans to repeal our Minimum Service Level legislation, which would have allowed essential services to continue during strikes, I am deeply concerned about Labour’s approach to industrial relations and where this could leave the public services people rely on. If you do not draw a line somewhere – they will always come back for more.

This is not about any animus against public sector workers in any area. They all work incredibly hard. But so do people not in the public sector. Work is work, whether it is public or private and people deserve to be paid and treated well, regardless who employs them.

What do you think? Did Labour voters vote for this? Did Reform voters?

I’m not your MP anymore, but any party needs an opposition. It tends to lead to better government. I welcomed opposition when I was the MP.

Rachel Maclean

GPs should refuse to take strike action

I WAS privileged and proud to be a Bromsgrove GP from 1970 until I retired at age 68 in 2011.

I am very concerned about the BMA’s call for industrial action from GPs.

Other than being a patient, I have no professional contact with local GP’s now, but I would hope in solidarity they refuse to take any action.

This would do much to improve patient respect and trust.

The last call for GP industrial action by the BMA was in 1975. All the Bromsgrove GPs at the outset made it clear they would not support it.

We were actually called ‘blacklegs’ by some militant GPs in Worcestershire.

Only one in four GPs across the country finally took any action, but I am not so sure that will be the case this time.

For all of my 41 years I was passionate about general practice and it being the ‘Cornerstone and Gatekeeper’ of the NHS.

I was lucky to work with like-minded colleagues in both general practice and hospital.

The current state of the NHS, I am sure is due to the demise of general practice as I knew it.

I have a grandson who is starting his third year at medical school and I cannot believe that not once have

I suggested he consider general practice as a career .

In 49 years as a medic I have witnessed many NHS changes, but I fear the more recent ones in general

practice cannot be reversed even if the will of GPs to try existed.

I am not so sure medicine is still a vocation.

I hope I am wrong.

Barry Bywater

Join us for fundraising for Breast Cancer Now

BREAST Cancer Now’s Afternoon Tea is back this August and I can’t wait to dust off my whisk and stick the kettle on to raise vital funds for Breast Cancer Now. Will you join me?

Every 10 minutes, someone in the UK hears the words ‘you have breast cancer’.

Sadly, I lost my dear mum Jane to breast cancer when she was just 56.

Years later, when I found a lump while breastfeeding my daughter Liberty, I wasted no time getting it checked out.

Hearing I had the same disease as my mum was devastating, but the advances in treatment since my mum’s diagnosis meant I recovered and could be there for my little girl as she grew up.

Only breast cancer wasn’t done with me yet, and in February 2023 I was diagnosed again in my other breast. Luckily this tumour was caught early, so my treatment has been successful.

It’s been a tough journey, especially for Liberty who is older now and understands so much more – which is why we’ve decided to host an Afternoon Tea for Breast Cancer Now.

Every day, Breast Cancer Now’s research brings us closer to finding new treatments and a future where everyone with breast cancer lives and is supported to live well.

That’s a world where Liberty and I can be together for many more years to come. But they can’t do it without your support.

By joining us, you can raise money that helps provide expert health information, fund cutting-edge research projects and give someone like me much-needed reassurance from specialist nurses on Breast Cancer Now’s free helpline, which can make all the difference.

So, why not get your friends together and host an Afternoon Tea this August by visiting: breastcancernow.org/afternoon-tea and signing up for your fundraising kit now.

Lucy Preston

Living beyond breast cancer

EDITOR’S COMMENT

THE NEW Royal Enfield sculpture installed at Arrow Valley Country Park is a sight to behold and well worth a visit.

With such a rich history of motorbike manufacturing in Redditch, it is right the town’s achievements over the years should be remembered.

The plaque there will also give visitors and others who are not familiar with this important part of the town’s past the chance to find out more.

Well done to everyone involved in the project.