Letter: Worthy women

Sir: Many thousands of people, including old women, undertake the fundraising and other tasks that enable voluntary hospices to work with people whose diseases are no longer curable. What we need is an editorial about the achievements and challenges of providing hospice and palliative care services. What we get is your editorial (31 December) suggesting that undermining the honours system by ridicule is better than simple abolition, which would provoke a huge fuss about "recognising the public worth of some old woman who has devoted her life to hospices".

JEAN GAFFIN

Executive Director

National Council for Hospice and Specialist Palliative Care Services

London WC1