Here in Britain the prospect of generalised or even specialist conscription has been considered by many to be politically suicidal, other than for a war of national survival. Neither Iraq nor any of the other existing operational deployments fit this description.Should the number of casualties increase in any or all of these operational areas, the Defence Medical Services will be faced with either unacceptable periods of deployment for the existing regular and reserve medical staff or the prospect of selective conscription for specialists, in consequence of the swingeing and ill-thought out Defence Costs Study cuts imposed by the last Conservative government, which grossly undermined the medical services.PETER CRAIG F.R.C.S. Participants in the retreat are, in our experience, rarely stressed-out executives, as you suggest, and mainly fundraise in order to pay the fees.MORRIS MARSHALL Richmond, Surrey Medical call-up? Sir: I was impressed but saddened that you have raised the question of conscription (Mary Dejevsky, 4 May). She puts the state of play accurately, but from a largely US perspective.

The editorial, too, was most misleading, and I feel that your readers deserve to know the truth behind the cost of the retreat.The cost of the retreat is £150. Two-thirds of the funds raised will be given to the homeless service agencies that are encountered during the retreat, and the remainder will be applied to the social action missions of the Hudson River Peacemaker Community. I had 41 cases when I left, 16 of which were very live child protection enquiries and follow-ups. It seems nothing has changed.Child protection work is essentially policing families. It requires mature, street-wise people who are paid well and have a caseload that allows them to do the job properly.

I would only contemplate a return if I had a maximum caseload of 15, and no more than 5 live protection cases included in that figure. Oh, and around £35,000 pa minimum, not the £22,000 I might earn now.Respect and value does not begin to fill vacancies with really capable people. It will take a massive cash investment, a radical job rethink and excellent professional salaries. It is only money that can improve this service.JOHN WILCOCK Burntwood, Staffordshire. Street retreat Sir: Being a consistently loyal reader of The Independent, I was disappointed to have encountered the shallow report about the retreat which we are organising (“Zen and the art of paying £150 to be a beggar on the streets of London”, 4 May).

I am a qualified social worker whose mental health improved by getting out some 20 years ago I was young, inexperienced, badly paid and overworked. We were already bedevilled by paperwork and poor management, trying to do a very difficult job in impossible circumstances. But the worst of all worlds would be to jump to ill-considered conclusions and resort to failed methods based upon old assumptions that family members and the care system are mutually exclusive.CATHY ASHLEY Chief Executive Family Rights Group London E8Sir: Mr Saner-Haigh seems to live in a much nicer world than me (letter, 30 April). Government guidance rightly states friends and family care should be explored as the first option when a child is in care. However, it is also clear that each individual child’s situation needs to be properly assessed as to what is in his or her best interest. That did not happen in Toni-Ann’s case.Lessons need to be learnt. She was a child at risk and, as the authority has acknowledged, it was its responsibility to assess any adult looking after Toni-Ann as to their suitability, whether that be a family member or a stranger That was not done properly.