There is a strong case for creating a health commission to run NHS

SIMON Barker, the new chairman of the Scottish Consultants Committee of the BMA, is not the first medic to have criticised aspects of the NHS in Scotland, and he won’t be the last. (“Top doctor: NHS staff forced to magic things from thin air”, The Herald, August 29).

NHS expenditure represents about 50 per cent of the block grant we receive from Westminster, so, if things are really so dire, there must be a considerable waste of taxpayers’ money. Our block grant is determined by what year-on-year bids England achieves – Holyrood can allocate to the NHS here what it deems is affordable, bearing in mind the demands from other devolved services. These circumstances apply whatever party is in power at Holyrood, The resources are finite.

The English NHS is facing budget deficits to the extent that efficiency measures are being rushed in to balance the books. The question is: had these measures been in operation, would there have been deficits?

Mr Barker’s comment that “what we have not been good at in the NHS in Scotland is making our staff feel valued and therefore needing to stay. We are more often seen as a burden”. Is the implication that senior staff have abused junior staff, or is he making a political point, that the politicians have no respect for the NHS?

Or is the SNP Government the real target?

One solution might be to take politics out of the NHS and create an NHS Commission to run the whole show. It should be possible to identify a so-called captain of industry, pay him/her at the rate for the job, and manage the considerable resources, financial as well as staff, to maximum effect.

Furthermore, we should be able to rely upon medical graduates, trained here at public expense, to deliver, say, at least five years’ service here, or, failing that, we should invoice the governments of those countries who are attracting them away with the much higher salaries they can afford.

Holyrood will take responsibility for income tax in 2017. If extra money is really the problem, and the political parties start the usual auction market principle regarding who can tax the highest, taxpayers will not be best pleased at paying more, when existing resources are not being applied effectively

So far as satisfaction with the NHS is concerned, my wife and I, and our wider family, have nothing but praise for the treatment we have had from GPs and hospitals, but maybe we have just been lucky. Douglas R Mayer, 76 Thomson Crescent, Currie. SIMON Barker, chairman of the Scottish Consultants Committee of the BMA, draws attention to the difficulties experienced by health boards in attracting applicants to fill posts throughout the country. He indicates that personnel are drawn to other countries which offer more attractive salaries and better work life balances, but they are also attracted there because they are “more valued” than in Scotland.

It is likely that few patients do not value the expertise provided by consultants and their colleagues, but it does raise the question as to by whom they feel undervalued. Could it be managers responding to targetdriven political directives?

The increasing demands on the NHS, and the expectations of care to be provided within it, will not be addressed solely by increased funding without taking on board the job satisfaction factors raised by Mr Barker.

The same arguments may also apply to the recruitment of GPs. Malcolm Allan, 2 Tofthill Gardens, Bishopbriggs.