A muddled approach to pay in the NHS

SIR – There has been much talk of the 1 per cent pay rise for NHS staff.

However, significant numbers of NHS employees receive incremental pay increases, the value of which way exceeds the 1 per cent cap.

Incremental pay scales disappeared from the private sector many years ago. They are conveniently ignored whenever NHS and other publicsector pay matters are discussed. Peter Preston Ivybridge, Devon SIR – We are all aware that the NHS is in a state of stress, and this will continue due to a rising population, new medical discoveries and a gradual loss of medical staff.

This can only be resolved by an increase in NHS contributions or an increase in general taxes. The apparent reluctance of the electorate to accept that taxes must increase is obtuse. Tom Templeman

Woking, Surrey SIR – Data from the Office for National Statistics show that, in 1997, 19.6 per cent of healthcare expenditure was privately funded. By 2013 this had fallen to 16.7 per cent, leaving the NHS with an extra £4.37 billion to find in that year alone.

Allowing for the passage of time, this looks uncomfortably similar to the extra £6 billion the Liberal Democrats want to raise through a 1p rise in income tax.

This will, of course, make no more difference in the long term than did the doubling of NHS funding between 1997 and 2010; the service will still be in crisis.

It is time to reform perspectives so that people begin to regard their health as something to be invested in just as much as their pleasures, using private insurance to reduce the burden on taxpayers, infrastructure and staff. Victor Launert

Matlock Bath, Derbyshire