The Government expects to spend ever more – not just on the NHS
SIR – The Government seems trapped in the incremental-spending mindset, where current spending is taken as a given. This is just a recipe for everspiralling costs, debt and taxation.
In the year of my birth, 1960, government spending was £9.1 billion, and according to my parents the fabric of society was not disintegrating at that time. If that number is increased by inflation, 2018 spending should be £200 billion. Actual 2018 spending is more than four times that, at £814 billion, yet special-interest groups still complain that they need much more.
This is clearly unsustainable. An alternative approach to stop this cycle might be to break down the above spending by specific government department, and ask each to justify all increases above inflation, in terms of value-for-money output improvement. If this cannot be justified then their budget is reduced accordingly.
This doesn’t even take into account that the use of technology should have improved productivity, thereby limiting increases in costs to well below inflation, as private industry has always had to do, in order to stay in business. Tony Marshall
Rudgwick, West Sussex
SIR – A penny on tax for the NHS? Why not a penny for the Armed Forces, a penny for social care, a halfpenny for the roads and perhaps a farthing for the tax collector? Chris Elphick
Slinfold, West Sussex
SIR – My excellent doctors’ surgery is offering calcium and Vitamin D pills on prescription to patients who have, after the age 50, suffered a bone fracture caused by a fall. If I bought these at the chemist, a year’s supply would cost me £54. The cost of a bone scan to establish the need for treatment can start from under £100.
While I applaud my doctors’ approach to preventative medicine, I wonder how the beleaguered NHS can afford to offer long-term medication to healthy people and those who can, at the cost of just over £1 per week, look after their own welfare. Sandra Jones
Old Cleeve, Somerset
SIR – A health tax is the standard method of funding the healthcare system in Germany, with the employer contributing the same amount. The tax is capped for those on higher salaries.
I paid €500 a month and my employer added the same – the result funding an excellent health system. John Maioha Stewart
Negombo, Sri Lanka
SIR – I agree with your Leading Article (March 26) that health funding needs radical change. I am disappointed that the Government has resisted calls for a royal commission to investigate and find a solution that all might accept and support.
Perhaps in the absence of this development, you could debate the subject in your pages. David Dunbar
Honeybourne, Worcestershire