THE government’s own statistics from the Office of National Statistics showed that England and Wales registered 20,823 more deaths than the five-year average in the past 18 weeks.

With only 11,823 deaths attributed to Covid. It means 9,292 deaths or 45 percent were not linked to the pandemic.

This coincides with a report from the Royal College of Nursing warning more than 120,000 people had been forced to wait for at least four hours in Accident and Emergency departments in October, an increase of more than 50 percent since October 2019.

Ambulances are also taking longer to reach patients, with heart attack sufferers now waiting an average of 53 minutes before help arrives – nearly three times the NHS target.

The number of patients like my late mother treated in corridors, has risen nine-fold since October 2019.

I could bang on giving more statistics with the horrendous situation’s families are having to endure due to the lack of funding and non-entities, such as our MPs demanding a 30 percent pay increase while Rome burns.

We deserve better than that.

But we do need to review the rushed consultation to get Poole A&E closed with the real situation now facing local families.

The closure of Poole A&E will kill thousands needlessly in any given year as the position nationally worsens.

It’s not too late to keep Poole A&E open and increase the staff required to save more lives.

It would also not be unreasonable to ask for another A&E in the Purbecks – the distance to Poole A&E hasn’t decreased.

MIKE FRY Moorland Crescent, Upton