Throwing more cash at the NHS isn’t the answer
I AM a retired consultant gynaecologist and know the NHS is in meltdown.
It is clear that major reform is necessary to correct the ailments that have grumbled on for years but which have now come to a head. Pouring more money into the NHS is not the answer.
Only a cross-party political effort will be able to handle the uphill struggle to get the public and unions to accept reform is the only answer to providing a health service that is fit for purpose.
We need convalescent homes for patients who are on the mend, but not ready for home, freeing up acute hospital beds.
GP practices should be replaced by hubs with a team of doctors, nurses, radiographers and physiotherapists, providing services for haematology, biochemistry, bacteriology, X-rays, ultrasound and screening.
With facilities available locally, patients could be diagnosed and treated without further referral. Those who need to go to hospital would benefit from earlier intervention and improved outcomes. There would also be more job satisfaction for GPs.
I believe hospital management could be reduced by at least half.
Changes in taxation of consultants and GPs have resulted in many early retirements and part-time working, which means the long waiting lists created by Covid are not being addressed.
Advancements in medical technology have the potential for a huge improvement in care, but these come at a high price.
I am convinced that the way forward to fund the NHS is to adopt the medical insurance system in Germany and France. JENNIFER HUGHES-NURSE,
Barrowden, Rutland.
Part-time problem
AS A retired GP, I am astonished that the glaring faults in the NHS are being ignored.
The most important issue is the vast number of doctors who work part-time, usually two days a week. Their education was a burden on the taxpayer and the return is paltry. My daily routine until 1996 was two surgeries of 50 people, a home visiting list of ten and ward rounds at the maternity hospital three days a week.
All appointments were face-toface and never by phone. No GP complained about burn-out. I’m amazed at the numbers and titles of hospital management and the fact that a CEO can be paid more than a cardiothoracic surgeon.
Knowing the NHS, collecting the suggested extra charges will result in a raft of new managers.
I don’t think charges to see a doctor would deter patients as much as the present nonsense whereby a receptionist without medical experience decides who can and can’t have a face-to-face appointment — as has happened to me.
DR GWILYM EDMONDSONJONES, Ledbury, Herefordshire.
Spinning grievances
SHOULD we feel almost sorry for Nicola Sturgeon’s extensive team of taxpayer-funded spin doctors? Will they be able to concentrate on the wonderful sport on offer at the Commonwealth Games?
Or, I wonder, might they be too focused on manufacturing grievances about BBC coverage of Scottish competitors compared with those from England – and then harassing the BBC about supposed anti-Scottish bias?
MARTIN REDFERN, Melrose, Roxburghshire.
£3bn spending lie
THE SNP is claiming they have allocated £3billion in funds helping Scottish families through the austerity of high inflation and energy costs but in reality according to Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) they have only spent about £490million as most of the help given was already in place under different schemes introduced years ago (Mail).
Can we please have less spin and some accuracy and honesty, Miss Sturgeon? DENNIS FORBES GRATTAN,
Aberdeen.
Statistics that damn
BENJAMIN Disraeli is credited with the phrase: ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics’. In Scotland, a more appropriate version should read: ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and SNP statistics’.
Unfortunately for Nicola Sturgeon, her latest trumpet blowing claim has been disassembled by one of her own departments as it blows a raspberry at her figures. Its analysis of the £3billion figure reveals just £490million, minus the £280million Council Tax rebate cash from Westminster, has been allocated since October 2021.
The devious inclusion of funding ‘baked into’ the budget over the last ten years or so is a perfect illustration of the lengths the SNP will go to in efforts to hide the real facts about its inept governance.
When will Scottish voters rid us of such tactics? Surely most must now see how they have been duped by a party whose only skills are those of cover-up and: ‘three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and SNP statistics’. GRAHAM WYLLIE, Airdrie, Lanarkshire.
Shameless bragging
SNP ministers have bragged about £3billion supposedly allocated this year to help households cope with the cost-of-living crisis, including support for energy bills, childcare, health and travel, as well as social security payments unavailable elsewhere in the UK.
Some of the policies the SNPGreen administration are claiming as having been introduced in response to the cost-of-living crisis date back to before the SNP were even in power.
The most expensive policy at £1billion is increased funding for early learning and childcare which has been in place since 2014. Some of the policies that the SNP are claiming credit for date back to the days of the Liberal-Labour coalition.
This SNP-Green Government is not doing enough to tackle soaring energy bills and the cost-ofliving crisis. It’s shameless spin to claim pre-existing spending as part of a support package.
ANDREW HOGG, Burntisland, Fife.