I was shocked to read your report 'No respect' (Gazette, January 7). I feel very sad for the elderly lady who spent the day in A&E on Boxing Day and then was sent home in a taxi.

Admittedly the hospital should have put her coat on and made her warm and respected her dignity but we should not blame the hospital, the ambulance service or the taxi firm. They were all inappropriate agencies in the circumstances.

We need to look further upstream for the answer. Why was a 93-year-old lady sent to A&E in the first place? Who ever thought that was a good idea?

In the past a GP would have visited her at home, started her on antibiotics and visited her again later in the day or the next morning. Or possibly she would have been admitted to a cottage hospital for some good nursing care.

Those days are long gone and will never return but surely someone at the Department of Health could come up with a plan whereby ladies such as Mrs Moore-Clacy could have remained in the familiar surroundings of her own home and received her care in the community.

Judy Park

Kirkby Lonsdale