NHS treatment is now being rationed along some sort of residency lines

We all read with concern about the long delays waiting for ambulances and dire warnings that the usual winter pressures on A&E will start early this year. My own recent experience seems to me to be further evidence of the scale of the problems.

On holiday in Cornwall this month I was unlucky enough to break my leg. I was treated at A&E at the Royal Cornwall Hospital. It took a long time, but that did not surprise me. I was referred to the fracture clinic for follow up treatment.

I was somewhat astonished to receive a call from the fracture clinic explaining that they would not see me because I am not a Cornwall resident! They are too busy to treat visitors it seems.

So NHS treatment is now being rationed along some sort of residency lines in Cornwall. Apart from emergency treatment you may well find care refused. An alarming prospect indeed and further proof of the broken state of the NHS.

Julia Townsend-Rose,

Cliddesden Road,

Basingstoke