Essential services, especially in hospitals, should not have to depend on temporary staff (March 16).

To read that the NHS pays out £100,000 a day to keep staff, the majority being agency workers is ridiculous, especially in a country that promotes free education up to university level.

Surely it should be possible to recruit from the vast number of would-be professionals who are in training and following career courses.

Undergraduates have difficulty in getting a place at university, finding accommodation and committing themselves to tuition fees payable in later years.

It is daunting, especially if the course chosen is stretched over many years.

To many students, it will be a milestone and could mean that the country would lose out should they decide to leave and settle in another country.

To avoid a crisis that will soon face this country, I feel that those students who take up career courses ie doctors, nurses, engineers etc. repay the nation by doing five years' government service or the number of years the course took.

The Government would choose where you are posted and pay your tuition fees. Of course, a salary compatible with the area would be payable.

This system would provide hospitals and other institutions a steady flow of qualified staff each year and at the same time the qualified students would gain valuable experience.

VIM RODRIGO
Rivermead Road
Rose Hill, Oxford