Health funding

I RECENTLY read about a survey which found that 60 per cent of Britons are not getting enough sleep – no more than six hours a night, despite NHS guidelines suggesting that a healthy adult usually needs between seven and nine hours a night.

Lack of sleep or bad sleep results in heightened stress levels.

Little wonder though we are not getting enough sleep.

We are stressed or worried about our finances, governments, the high cost of living, increased bills, lack of improvement in the NHS and, last but not least, climate change.

Stress levels are are high particularly among our underpressure paramedics.

According to a recent report in a national newspaper, mental health absences have soared by 420 per cent.

Totally unacceptable. Also recently reported was the huge rise in the number of patients going private to avoid NHS waiting times for tests and/or treatment.

It seems that this private treatment is not now just for the rich but for desperate people using up their hard-earned savings for fear they might die before they receive NHS treatment.

And this despite the fact that the funding principle of the NHS was that it should be free at the point of need.

Sadly no longer the case and consequently our long NHS waiting lists have forced many patients to seek this private treatment.

It is felt by some that the Scottish Government should introduce tax relief for private medical treatment and this would help cut NHS waiting times.

It seems to me that our Scottish Government does not appear to value health as being of vital importance.

It wasted money on policies such as DRS, the recycling of bottles scheme, costing millions of pounds which would have been better spent on our NHS/health or schools.

A decent education should be seen as crucial to our children’s future and our teachers should be prioritised.

Recently, an MSP, John Mason, was heard to say that Scottish teachers are an “unaffordable luxury”.

What kind of attitude is that towards our hard-working teachers?

Where would we be without these teachers and our overworked NHS staff? Enough said.

Sheila E Richards Melrose