Final breaths of neglected NHS

■ IS anyone really expecting Jeremy Hunt to come riding atop his white steed with a miracle cure for the National Health Service’s ills tomorrow? No, I didn’t think so.

Many are giving the damning verdict already, that this is the last chance to save the NHS, and Mr Hunt says he agrees (Mirror, November 14).

Further tax hikes and public sector funding cuts forecast for the Autumn Statement could possibly hammer the final nail into the coffin of the beloved NHS, as well as inflict even more misery and pain on the rest of us.

So, while Mr Hunt has promised to spare the service from cuts, those who suffer physical or mental health problems due to the new round of austerity could well threaten to overwhelm it.

A Smith, March, Cambs

■ It seems obvious to me the Tories have made a concerted effort over many years to ruin the NHS. Covid allowed them to see just how much can be made from awarding contracts to their mates. Meanwhile people are suffering. It’s impossible to contact a GP.

Our grandson was ill last week and his mum has only just managed to arrange a phone appointment. When we called 111 we were promised a call back in two hours. It didn’t happen.

The receptionists at our surgery are permanently disgruntled while the doctors don’t seem to care. This shouldn’t be happening.

Lynn Manning

Dagenham, East London

■ As an ex-community dental nurse made redundant in the 1990s from going into schools as it was deemed unnecessary because everyone had a dentist, I now see the utter chaos that reigns today.

My own NHS dentist in Leamington Spa is on its knees because he cannot get any newlyqualified dentists to work in the NHS, so he is not able to accept new registrations.

Nye Bevan would turn in his grave if he could see what is happening today.

Jan Lemmon, Warwick

■ Christina Mcanea’s warning about the Tories deliberately running down the NHS is not to be taken lightly

Most of the previous Tory governments have gone out of their way to try to privatise it by stealth.

Going as far back as 1948 when Clement Attlee’s Labour founded the NHS, the Tories have tried to scupper it.

David King, Peterborough, Cambs

■ I was born in the same year as

the NHS. I have been protected all my life by this institution which used to be revered worldwide. But thanks to the years of neglect and mismanagement by the Tories, alas no more.

I have no doubt their actions will result in many lives being unnecessarily lost this winter, especially amongst the elderly.

Roger Grant

Thurnscoe, South Yorks

■ The Tories have been against the NHS since it was founded in 1948 and are deliberately running it into the ground. There should be legislation to protect our health service and ensure it is not sold off.

The NHS is not the sole property of any one government – it belongs to the people.

L Hayward

Market Harborough, Leics

■ The simplest way to give NHS staff the wages they deserve would be to channel the money they reserve for expensive agency personnel to them instead.

Is the only reason the Tories have never done this because they count on private agencies for support?

Geoff Willmetts

Bridgwater, Somerset