NHS funding needs a total revamp

Sir, – Like most readers , I was saddened, but not surprised, to read NHS Grampian having to find and achieve a staggering £77 million of savings in the coming financial year. Given the board are already robbing Peter to pay Paul, just to sustain the services on offer, then this is a major worry.

I am guessing that anything and everything that can be cut, will be cut, or removed altogether. I am presuming treatment that isn’t under the lifethreatening category, may well be put on the back burner for yet another year.

Despite all this, I don’t blame the SNP at all for the current crisis. The NHS under any political party, will face exactly the same problems. All we get from Labour is to throw even more money at things, in the hope it will change. It won’t, and sadly, it may take generations to reap the benefit of a new funding model, made up of private and public funding.

Even Labour were on a research mission into how things are done in Singapore, in the hope that future generations will see a more modern service. I feel genuinely sorry for medical staff, who are quite simply defending the Alamo on a daily basis. Sadly, for my generation, and the ones older than me, I can’t see any way out, unless you’re able to wait, or pay to have private treatment, sadly, for most of us, that’s not sustainable, especially for major surgery.

That’s why I would start by private and public funding of GPs, radiology, and eyes and ears, and leaving the beleaguered staff in the hospitals to carry out life-saving and/or preventive treatment .

Andrew Lamb. Fraserburgh.