THE fundamental change that is required in order to solve all the problems posed by Catriona Stewart ("GP access is a national joke: I'm not laughing", The Herald, December 6) is a reduction in GP per capita list size to 1,000.

A full-time GP looking after a "flock" of 1,000 souls will seldom have more than 100 consultations per week, with 15-minute appointments, most patients being seen face-to-face by the doctor on the same day that the appointment is made. The patients are given all the time they need, and the doctors have time to pursue special interests, research, and administration. This is sustainable; the doctor might not end up rich, but has a chance at happiness.

For this to happen, Scotland will need more than 5,000 full-time equivalent GPs in the work force. So the medical schools need to open their doors. Forget all the hurdles, the impossibly high exam grades, the "personal statement", the absurd UCAT test, and the interview to satisfy the prejudices of the selectors that you are "doctor material". Of course it is expensive to train a doctor, but the more that are trained, the cheaper per capita it becomes. If you want to be a doctor, if you have some reasonable grades in appropriate subjects, and if you are kind-hearted, then you should be welcomed as a medical student.
Dr Hamish Maclaren, Stirling

Time to give Qatar a break

PEOPLE easily forget, or have never known, that Qatar was ruled by Britain until 1971.

When charges arise about workers' rights, it was the British who introduced the kafala system which restricts how migrant workers, and they make up 89 per cent of the population, are treated.

It's not good, but changes are under way.

Thank you Brian Wilson ("Be glad that football has opened up a window of opportunity in Qatar", The Herald, December 6) for pointing out that "Qatar has crammed more change into 25 years than any other country on Earth".

Sadly, the mainly-white Euro-centric UK media, including our well-paid pundits on television, have not done much research or left their hotel bars between visits to the fabulous football stadiums to experience the culture of Doha.

The BBC's Jon Champion said there were empty seats (attendance 43,847) at the Brazil v South Korea game and suggested the top tourist destination in Qatar was a desalination plant. Talk about being negative. He's missing out.

The country has fantastic museums, art spaces and cultural centres, coastal areas, sand dunes, a terrific local cuisine and excellent food from all over the world.

A former colleague of mine at Al Jazeera from Ireland posted pictures when he joined workers from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan watching the Japan v Croatia game on a TV screen in a street near where he stays in downtown Doha. They were enjoying it, providing him with karak tea and biscuits.

Why can't some critics get real and enjoy it too?

Did they also condemn Russia four years ago, and Brazil before that – both countries with problems they needed to sort out?
Andy Stenton, Glasgow

Firms have drink driving duty

AFTER drinking throughout the evening at his office Christmas night out, a drunk got in his company car, became a drunk driver and tried to drive home. In the process, he crashed into and killed my 19-year-old nephew and his girlfriend.

This has devastated several families to the extent that they will never be the same. And yet, this tragedy could so easily have been avoided if the business in question had applied a bit of foresight and initiative.

The driver used his company vehicle. On the day of their office night out – and this is almost a safety at work issue – the business should have made arrangements to ensure no company vehicle was available to be used, thereby removing the temptation to drive after drinking.

To press home the safety message, surely the company could have arranged taxis to ensure their colleagues got home safely after the night out.

In addition to a call to all readers to beware the consequences of drinking and driving, I make the heartfelt plea to any business organising a night out this Christmas. Please restrict the use of company vehicles on the day of such an event, and provide taxis to get people to the event and safely home again. This would be a tremendous gesture to their employees by removing the temptation to drive. In a business context, this is surely a minimal cost and yet it ensures everyone’s safety and maybe saves an innocent life.

Please don’t let other families suffer the heartache we have suffered.

Take responsibility. Be a thoughtful, considerate employer. Please do it.
Iain Ross, Lenzie

The plural puzzle

I NOTICE in today’s Herald (December 7) on Page 5 the headline “Police college closes as bacteria is found”. Surely it should be “are found”, given that the word bacteria is the plural of bacterium.

It seems that many plurals ending in the letter "a" – media and data to name just two – are now commonly used with singular verbs but I simply ask: why?

I appreciate that usage will usually trump pedantry but the lack of logic of this usage just puzzles me.
Forbes Dunlop, Glasgow

Take a letter? No, don't...

FURTHER to recent comments on the mangling of words in our language, there is another category which has not been commented on. This involves the adding of letters to words because of an apparent inability to pronounce them correctly otherwise.

For instance, why do English people insist on adding an "r" to “drawing” to get “drawring”? Then there are those who add a "u" to “nuclear” to get “nuculear”. Yet they don’t seem to have a problem with either “thawing” or a “nucleus”.
Robert Menzies, Falkirk

Literary misstep

I THOUGHT John Buchan of The 39 Steps and many other fine novels might have made your list of literary greats ("Scotland has produced its fair share of literary greats over the years", The Herald, December 7). Maybe not room for him in your well-balanced list, but disappointing none the less.
Iain Harrison, Linlithgow

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