THE scandalous treatment of the elderly by Harrow Primary Care Trust (PCT) is indefensible.

The staff tying pensioners to chairs with their own braces or sheets have apparently been disciplined. But why are they taking the blame? They were faced with a situation they were untrained and under-staffed for. With so many patients, some dementia sufferers, they must have panicked when they thought they were losing control.

But chief executive Dr Sarah Crowther knew recruitment was a problem more than a year beforehand and must have realised that exactly this kind of situation would occur.Why did it take police to be called for something to be done?

The trust has hardly been open about this. The report was buried at the bottom of a pile of board papers and wasn't even available to the public before the meeting that was supposed to discuss it. Is Dr Crowther going to apologise to those pensioners and their families?

Has town lost its vibrancy?

IS ANYONE else fed up with Harrow's lack of shops? Over the years the borough's centre has lost its sparkle and has become a haven for discount stores.

Unfortunately this is pushing out our once loyal customer base who now travel to Watford or Brent Cross. We need to make sure we attract the big names so Harrow can compete with neighbouring shopping districts.

Otherwise the town centre as a whole will lose its appeal. It's great to hear the council is about to spend £3.5million on the town centre. We have to make sure it works with the retailers to transform the town into the vibrant metropolitan centre it once was.