RECENTLY at the Victoria Central Health Centre - our small local hospital - my husband waited for over an hour for an X-ray.

It used to take about 15 minutes.

My husband and I are in our late 70s and retired, so waiting over an hour was okay as my husband was not in pain, but the young woman sitting facing us was obviously in pain and by the time she went in had tears rolling down her face.

Now you may think this is just unfortunate, but the reason for quadrupling of waiting times is because for months and months one of the X-ray rooms has been unusable due to broken equipment.

They should not have to work for months and months in these conditions and patients should not have to wait in pain because equipment needs either repairing or replacing.

Boris Johnson has promised six new hospitals in the very near future and another 34 during the lifetime of the next parliament, forgive me if I find these promises laughable.

Hey Big Spender, spend at little money on repairing what we have instead of promising Pie in the Sky from the Magic Money Tree.

Marie Adair by email.