The NHS is based on an outdated model that can no longer meet the needs of patients
SIR – Jeremy Hunt (Comment, May 28) suggests that the NHS “came to define” 20th-century health services.
I was born just before the inception of the NHS. My mother practised as a GP, and I qualified in medicine and worked in general practice. I also travelled in Europe and elsewhere, and observed many other systems.
I cannot remember seeing any similar service, except in the former Warsaw Pact regimes. In a strict and rigid society, a free, “all-you-can-eat buffet” model of healthcare may function reasonably well. Indeed, from the Fifties to about 1970, it appeared to do so here, though admittedly with an autocratic medical culture and a supplicant attitude from most patients.
Since then, however, the service has had to muddle on, heavily assisted by the free work done by most of its staff. With management expecting more and more from these staff, while cutting costs, the well of goodwill has finally run dry. Mr Hunt expects that technology will come to his rescue. Precedent – in the shape of disastrously wasteful computer projects – does not offer much hope. Dr C M Rayner
Guildford, Surrey SIR – Apparently people are happy to pay extra in tax for the NHS, if they are confident that the money will be spent wisely (Leading Article, May 28).
They wouldn’t need to if the money was being spent wisely. Diane Choyce
London W2
SIR – Having worked in the NHS during the New Labour years, I doubt people would support a new tax if they understood the waste that took place.
The £12 billion IT fiasco was entirely predictable, but those of us who raised concerns were overruled by “experts”.
Any money that filtered down to clinical services was wasted on creating new, highly paid but pointless roles. For example, we were given £60,000 for district nurse education in palliative care. Naively I thought that we could send 60 nurses a year on existing accredited courses. But no
– we had to employ a nurse on £30,000 to “research” the educational needs of district nurses.
The public will lose faith unless there is clear oversight of any further money sunk into this bottomless pit. Dr Peter N Hargreaves
Pulborough, West Sussex SIR – Professor Keith Willett (Commentary, May 29) is right about NHS waste. As a business school graduate and a doctor, I had to leave the NHS because I could not bear the inefficiency.
Bed-blocking is a very costly waste of resources. Some of the millions earmarked for the NHS should be used to build temporary accommodation units for patients who are ready for discharge but waiting either for a home assessment or a nursing home place. These could be staffed mainly by carers and would prevent expensive hospital beds from being blocked.
It is time the NHS started to think outside the box. Dr Dee Dawson
London N20
SIR – I support Rosie Taylor’s ideas for how to save the NHS (Features, May 28).
Besides reducing the amount of medication prescribed, the best way to save money would be to prevent admission to hospital, unless essential. Dr Giles Smith
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
SIR – I suggest labelling all large pieces of equipment – such as X-ray machines, scanners and life support machines – with the purchase price and maintenance charges, so that patients can see what even the “basic” costs are. Joan Tait
Staines-upon-thames, Surrey
SIR – Recently I developed slight swellings and a rash on my face. Heeding advice to first consult a pharmacist rather than a busy GP, I visited a chemist, where I was sold some antihistamine for a suspected insect bite.
Three days later, hideously swollen and in some pain, I made an appointment with my GP, who took one look at me and immediately diagnosed shingles. It was a pity, he told me, that he had not seen me a couple of days earlier and caught the condition when it would have been easier to treat.
While all efforts to take pressure off the NHS are to be applauded, sometimes only a medical professional is properly placed to provide treatment.
Charles Smith-jones
Landrake, Cornwall