Impractical system

Whoever briefed the Director of Information in answer to my letter (The Sunday Times, August 19) provides a clear case of why departmental systems go wrong.

After a long time of negative input on a situation, initiative is sometimes finally taken. When one keeps in mind the possible conflict of interest of the different parties involved, each pulling their intransigent way that, in itself, is a breakthrough. The safest thing after that is to deny anything which may tend to prove the new system wrong, as this upsets the effort and calls for more.

I have no doubt that the intention of the 'system' was good in the first place. However, in a situation where you have a doctor twiddling his or her thumbs and is not allowed to write a simple prescription which s/he is there to do, simply because one has no fixed appointment, while there is a long queue of patients waiting to see another doctor, does not strike me as being efficient or practical.