Stop scapegoating – our NHS needs funds
ONCE again Sandra Camwell misses the point (Letters, February 7).
Yes, the NHS needs money and every penny counts, but to stigmatise non-nationals is pointing the finger at the wrong culprit.
Foreign use of the NHS is estimated by the government to be, at the maximum, less than a half penny in the pound (£500m out of £116 billion). In comparison, the government has assumed 20p in the pound (£22 billion) efficiency savings; added costs of privatising the NHS services and cut billions on supporting services such as social care in the community.
It is this and the additional costs of preparing to sell off NHS services and that is pushing the NHS into a ‘state of collapse’.
This is at a time of a growing and ageing population. Better health thanks to the NHS is enabling people to live longer and this is a factor in the growth of population. It is a great tribute to the decades of an excellent NHS we used to have.
In 2010 the NHS was recognised as the most effective health service in the world. Since 2010 it has been downhill all the way and the UK now spends less of its GDP on health than any comparable rich nation.
It is the government that has privatised and broken up NHS services. It is not the people falling sick on airplanes, as Sandra Camwell suggests. The suggestion we should be asked to prove the eligibility for treatment is a step towards all people getting used the idea some or all will have to pay for some or all treatments.
Making people carry certificates of good health is very discriminatory and horrifying as it assumes a collective guilt of all people without one. Collective guilt has a sinister record in history and quite rightly is illegal in UK and international law.
It serves the NHS better if we stop looking for scapegoats. The NHS needs the government to take seriously the under-funding and stop obscuring the real problems with gimmicky initiatives that at best do nothing to solve the present NHS problems. Getting rid of Jeremy Hunt would be a start. Myles Mackie Earlsdon Coventry
One councillor is a glorious exception
I HAVE moaned before about the difficulty of getting a response of any kind from councillors to emails.
Sometimes they do respond – more frequently they don’t. Questions consequently often go ignored and information is withheld.
There is one glorious exception that I know about to this general rule. Somehow or other, I have got onto the mailing list of a councillor from whom I learn vast amounts about the way Coventry is operating via his frequent, clear, courteous, elegantly phrased, highly informative and extremely useful emails. I don’t even live in his ward and I am not a supporter of his political party.
Credit where credit is due. The voters of Westwood are lucky to have him. So thank you, Councillor David Skinner. Keep them coming. I am grateful to you. George Moore Stoke Coventry
Time to train them up in Cov, Eddie
I HAD to laugh when England’s rugby coach Eddie Jones didn’t appear to know why we do so badly against the Welsh in Cardiff.
First, try picking the best team. Too many of the England squad that nearly lost to France were bench players, not match-fit or hired guns rejected by the All Blacks.
Second, Eddie should tell the retired colonels at Twickenham to merge the English and Welsh leagues. I know that the London clubs won’t like it, but when you have to play the Welsh every other week like Cov did before the game went professional, it concentrates the squad’s mind on what they need to do to win down there.
Third, Eddie should get on the next train for South Wales at Paddington and meet up with his relatives. They will quickly tell him that the secret of Wales’ success is the Arms Park faithful. Their support is worth anything between five and 10 points.
Fourth, he should also move the England training camp out of the posh end of Surrey and back to Coventry. Being surrounded by honest terraced housing and council flats would remind our overpaid players that if they want a posh lifestyle they have to earn it. Chris Youett Earlsdon Coventry