PROLONGED waits to be seen as an outpatient will never be solved until we train and attract to Scotland more consultants, certainly in my field of neurology.

On Friday Ayr advertised for the second time for a consultant neurologist, last week Inverness did the same. Fruitless, we do not have enough trainees in Scotland, despite pleading with the executive for more. Nor are there enough in England to meet their own needs, let alone ours. In the meantime there are well-trained specialists in non-EU countries who cannot get registered here because of ridiculous rules and regulations. In the past year, neurologists from Australia, New Zealand, India and Iraq who would and could have worked here as consultants have been turned away, and so patients keep on waiting.

Professor Charles Warlow, 6 South Gray Street, Edinburgh.