The government is continually telling us that because of the economic situation the only way out of this predicament is to impose stringent efficiency savings or, as we understand them, budgetary cuts, whereby government and councils are meant to provide the same level of service with less money, when often the demands for those services are greater today than they ever have been.

Only the other week it was exposed that hospitals were putting off non-emergency knee and hip replacement operations in order to save money, leaving those people suffering, and the resultant lower quality of life than they could have if their operations were performed.

Because of the lack of joined-up government thinking people are paid disability living allowance and other social benefits and left incapacitated, rather than performing the replacement surgery they need, which would allow them to lead a more independent and productive life, which in the long run would save money by reducing medication, medical care and other administration while left on the waiting-list.

Dave Fothergill, St Julians, Newport