SIR – Nanny Bullen (Features, September 1), known affectionately as Bunnie, came to work for my father, impresario Tom Arnold, and mother Helen when my much younger brother was born.
She was supposedly hired to take care of him, but she took me under her wing and taught me a lot of things, including how to read and appreciate literature and how to eat an orange with a teaspoon like it was a boiled egg, which I am still doing in my 80s.
In her twilight she was a companion to the artist Dame Laura Knight, after which she lived in a nursing home for nurses and nannies at Wimbledon, although she kindly came for a few weeks to look after my newborn and give me the ropes.
It only seemed fitting that I should be there to hold her hand while she was in the hospital, as she had held mine on so many occasions.
Louise boxing hall
Thurlestone, Devon
Doctors should take pride in seeing patients
SIR – Royal College of GPs professor Martin Marshall’s whining (Letters, Sept. 2) about pressure from family doctors doesn’t cut the ice for most NHS experts.
As a retired psychiatrist, aged 79, I’ve been vaccinating people 24 hours a week since March. I’ve had contact with 3,000 unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people, some of whom may have had Covid. I’m vaccinated, but if I get it and die, so be it. I am a proud member of what used to be a selfless profession.
Professor Robin Jacoby
Hethe, Oxfordshire
SIR – My husband had very satisfactory phone consultations with both his ventilator and cardiologist, as did a friend with his haematologist – much better than taking the risk of contracting Covid.
Family doctors see patients face-to-face almost 60 percent of the time, compared to 80 percent before the pandemic – not bad when you consider that 370 million consultations have been held since March 2020.
Dr. Deborah Gilham
Harpenden, Hertfordshire
SIR – After a night of severe pain, I called my practice and insisted on seeing a doctor who diagnosed kidney stones and arranged an x-ray and surgery. That didn’t stop the front desk staff from telling me not to ask for a doctor – the doctor will call if he or she deems it necessary to see me.
John Little
Plymouth, Devon
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