HAVING read of pets being allowed into Royal Bolton Hospital, I could hardly believe it was true.

Cats, dogs, chinchillas, gerbils, rabbits, snakes etc are all popular "pets". I suppose a parrot on the shoulder of a visitor would make the patients smile, but where should the line be drawn? By size, up to a maximum of, say, a Shetland pony?

There have been cases of people, especially children, being infected by nasty diseases when visiting farms and small zoos through contact with livestock. Surely a hospital is the last place any kind of risk should be taken with patient care?

Unless there is a special decontamination area for the spraying of "pets", the practice should be stopped immediately.

I can imagine the claims against the NHS if it could be proved a patient had suffered further illness through contact with some animal or reptile. The whole idea is "barking mad".

John S L Evans

Howard Avenue

Deane, Bolton