IS THERE something fundamentally wrong with our health service?

On Friday afternoon, 6 May, when visiting the chemist opposite the Health Centre, I came across a motorcyclist obviously in great pain. He had been stung in the eye by a bee.

The area of the sting was red and swollen and he was suffering badly. The barbed sting could well have still been in his eye. He was struggling to apply an eye wash which he had just purchased from the chemist.

My immediate reaction was, “Come across the road to the hospital’s Minor Injuries Unit.” He replied that he had already been there, but the actual unit was closed, and nobody else there was willing to help him.

This is a hospital costing millions of pounds a year to run, full of caring nurses and doctors but no one could be found to help a person in such distress!

What is wrong with our society?

John Peck, Fyfield Lane, Weyhill

Editor’s note: The Advertiser put this criticism to the hospital. It said in a statement: “The staff working in our emergency care services, such as the MIU at Andover War Memorial Hospital, are highly skilled professionals.

“If anyone in the Andover area requires urgent treatment before 8.30 and after 5pm they should call NHS 111 for advice about their nearest emergency care service.

“We are hoping to extend the hours of the MIU early in June and then return to usual hours by mid-summer.”