Surely the cost and scarcity of places in private care homes – all too readily shut by owners whose sole concern is profit – is a major reason that up to one in seven hospital beds are occupied by people fit to be discharged, and another “privatisation premium” that we all pay (UK public has paid £200bn to shareholders of key industries since privatisation, 16 September)?
Ruth Sumner
Swindon, Wiltshire
• I agree that the government should forget the private sector and build state-owned housing for rent (Letters, 22 September), but please, system building is not the answer, being expensive and ugly.
David Fletcher
Buckley, Flintshire
