WASH HANDS: My wife is in hospital at the moment and seems to be recovering well. But every time you open a newspaper all you see are horror stories of people in hospital getting an infection just when they seem to be better. I wanted to make sure this didn’t happen to my wife. There are simple things we can do. The most important thing is keeping clean. I wash my hands when I visit and I also ask nurses to wash theirs. This won’t work against superbugs, but the website patientpak.com has really good advice and products for killing superbugs. No matter how clean the hospitals are, we will never get rid of infections if we don’t help patients and the people who visit them to keep clean.

Philip James
Address supplied

FEWER BUSES: I was interested to read Janet Mulligan’s suggestion we need more route R7 buses (We Need More Regular Buses, Letters, October 8). Judging by the huge number of buses I see running empty of passengers throughout the day and night, which leads to a colossal waste of expensive fuel, I would say we need to cut down on all these unnecessary bus services. In countries such as India, buses and trains only run if they can guarantee being filled to capacity within a short distance of departure and so they make a good profit. Our buses and trains run empty for most of the day, so they need enormous subsidies. Is this sensible?

Adrian Appley
Bromley


NOT SILLY: Regarding the story on time-wasting calls to 999 (Hello? 999? The Trains Are Making A Funny Noise, News Shopper, October 8), it occurs to me the man who called to say the trains behind his house were making a funny noise may have been concerned about the safety of the track, and trying to avert a possible accident. If this was his intention, I applaud his action and hope the gentleman concerned will bear with the writer of the story, who may not have thought through the possible motives for this particular 999 call.

Beryl Pratt
Address supplied

BAD MOVE: The proposed plan, I think, is for planned surgery to be transferred from Orpington to Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, despite the many objections to this. But I understand there is a possibility that in the future Queen Mary’s could be closed. What will happen to our planned surgery then? Especially if the Orpington unit might by then be utilised by others, even rented out privately.

Name and address supplied