REGARDING Mr Gallagher's NHS article, believe me you do not know the half of what a mess it is in.

I know from being on a long, long waiting list for orthopaedic surgery at Burnley General Hospital. It is time the whole system was scrapped as it is not working.

If I want to get quicker treatment it would cost me £12,000 and that is after paying all my working life into the system. The real world is paying this monolith for a third world service.

B JOHNSON (Mr), Ford Street, Barrowford.