YOU recorded (Malvern Gazette, June 3) the sad death of Mrs Eileen Layland, who did not receive adequate care after her hip operation.

Talking of NHS records, I wonder whether I have achieved one, in being sent home 38 hours after my (slightly less serious) hip operation, which followed an accident.

The pressure to get people out of the hospital after treatment is intense.

Of course, everyone longs to get out of hospital, particularly after the second day of the reheated food, but the patient is not always the best judge as to whether it is wise.

I was not unwilling to go home but realise, after some weeks, that I would have been far safer to stay in the protected environment of the hospital a little longer, to become stronger, before embarking on getting up and down 18 stairs with crutches.

There is no-one to tell you not to overdo it and in a lively home it is impossible to be as careful as one should. I have become exhausted.

The NHS is so desperate for beds that a special bed manager prowls around, I am told, to seek out who can be quickly despatched.

This may be counter-productive in the long run, for when complications (or worse) develop, the cost to the service may end up much greater.

Of course, everyone knows this. This is no comfort to Mrs Layland's family. Is there a record of the numbers of people sent home too early and then re-admitted (sometimes too late)? Probably not, since in every case the two admissions will not be recorded as the same problem.

CHRISTINE SHEPHERD, St Andrew's Road, Malvern.