System set for debt from its inception

To say that the general public are being fed too much information regarding the NHS is, to put it bluntly, too much information.

Has the national media nothing else to report other than Trump and the NHS? Why has no one in power done the simple maths on the subject?

The NHS came into being as part of the Welfare State. It would never pay for itself it would always be in debt. It was originally based on a population of around 40 million inhabitants of this country, it now provides for somewhere in the region of over 67 million people.

Contributions have never kept pace with spending. How can they when hospitals have to pay fees to private companies due to government systems of repayment of loans, and technology means that spending must be higher exponentially.

Politicians seem to think that tampering with the NHS is a vote loser - a touch of honesty would do a power of good if the public were informed, reasonably, of the situation rather than the hysteria that, at present, seems to be the way to go.

We have no complaints with either treatment, care or hospitalisation from the NHS over a period of 60 years.

We had a son who was severely disabled, he was in care through the NHS for a good many years, various operations to myself, wife and family have all been completed to our satisfaction, apart from one which is still a problem.

Unfortunately those problems hit the headlines, and they are a worry to the person concerned, but there are too many people using a system that was not designed as a cure-all.

£1 charge for dental treatment and a shilling charge for a prescription was brought in in the 1950s in order to reduce a deficit. It was obvious then that the NHS would forever be in debt. Is there a blame element in all of this, are we as a population too consumed with the idea that we can have something for nothing for the rest of our lives? There can be no blame given to NHS staff, yes there may be the odd grumpy one among them, but fortunately they are the minority. We have found, both in the past and now, that my wife has cancer, that treatment, care and medication is second to none.

Praise! Of course what else can we say, I’m 80 years old, still in reasonable health, and my contemporaries are kept alive by the NHS. Mr R Marshall Elmville Avenue Scarborough