Sir, In 1975 I was the first qualified surgeon in Great Britain to be selected to undergo specialist training in accident and emergency care. For the last four years I have been working in the Rhondda Valley and I am not in the least surprised that we are now unable to recruit an adequate number of A&E consultants (report, October 18).
Ten years ago we had a thriving speciality with increasing numbers of senior and intermediate doctors available to see patients as they came through the door of an A&E department. The level of “inappropriate attenders” was around 10 per cent. It now stands at around 30 to 40 per cent. This is entirely due to government changes in the GPs’ contract. Patients simply cannot