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Health review vital

NURSES and doctors are not renowned for their propensity to go on strike. Yet, last year we had the junior doctors’ strike; and now we hear that nurses are considering strike action (SA 18th May ”Nurses warn of first ever strike” and Editorial Comment).

Both these have been caused by worsening pay and conditions at work over several years which are now causing severe problems with recruitment and retention of both nurses and doctors – in hospitals and general practice, as well as community nursing.

The crisis in the NHS has been building up over a number of years; yet politicians of all parties (particularly when in power) and senior management have persistently turned a blind eye and refused to recognise both the nature and the magnitude of the problem – trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

The NHS and the practice of medicine have changed out of all recognition since it was founded in 1948.

People are now living longer and there are now many more effective, but expensive, treatments available to treat conditions that were incurable not so long ago.

Pouring money into the NHS will not solve the problem – particularly when too little gets to the professionals who actually treat patients.

Sooner or later, both politicians and the public will have to face up to the basic problem of ever increasing demands on the service and restricted supply – in terms of both money and manpower.

But the solutions are too painful for politicians – because they will be unpopular with the public and, so, would lose votes.

But, if members of the public want good public services (which it would appear that they do), they must be prepared to pay for them – somehow.

However, we must ensure that our money is not wasted on unnecessary bureaucracy.

This is why we need an independent review of the NHS to determine how it can meet the needs of patients in the 21st century, what sort of services it should be providing and how it should be funded.

MALCOLM MORRISON, Retired orthopaedic surgeon, Prospect Hill, Swindon

NHS is chronically ill

DR PETER Swinyard is anxious to tell us that the NHS is in crisis (SA 19 May) and I am sure many will agree with him.

But the NHS has been in crisis since its formation in 1948. The belief that the crisis is one caused by the Conservatives is as untrue as the claim that the NHS is the child of Labour.

Twenty years ago at the 1997 election, Tony Blair told voters they had 24 hours to save the NHS. The people duly elected a Labour Government which spent more than any previous administration on the health service.

And yet the NHS continued to be mired in deficits, with patients taking to the streets to prevent the closure of their local hospitals.

In 1997 the chairman of the BMA’s Consultants Committee said: “The biggest problem is that the Government has not engaged with doctors. They have imposed targets which have interfered with clinical judgement.”

In 2017 the chairman of the BMA is saying: “Doctors are calling on the next Government to bring spending on the NHS in line with other European countries, which would see it rise by more than £10bn a year.”

In Dr Mark Porter’s world, ‘doing the same thing over and over again will hopefully achieve a different outcome’ which is why Nye Bevan refused to discuss the NHS in terms of a ‘statistical exercise’ as he knew that spending in line with any other measure was an exercise in futility and demeaning to the real force of the argument which he believed should be based on principles.

Labour, it is accepted, poured ‘shed loads’ of money into the NHS from 1997. But where did all that money go?

Many would argue the issue isn’t the amount of money flowing in to the NHS but the manner in which it is spent. The respected King’s Fund reported “Once pay hikes - consultants and GPs have both received lucrative increases - covering for deficits and rising drug costs are taken into account, the seven per cent budget increases equate to two per cent for services.”

In Blair’s second term, Gordon Brown announced a five-year programme of record funding to bring health spending up to top European levels, exactly what Dr Mark Porter is calling for today.

The annual increases of more than seven per cent until 2008 saw the NHS budget tripled since Labour came to power in 1997 and yet still the siren cry was ‘the NHS is in crisis’ and a third of trusts failed to balance their books in spite of the extra funding. It begs the question, is the medicine working?

Towards the end of Labour’s 13 years of government figures showed the NHS getting back into balance, but only after holding back money from front-line services and raiding public health and training budgets.

The NHS can be likened to a patient suffering a chronic illness. The NHS has endured this chronic condition since 1949 when it became clear the architects of the NHS had underestimated the public demand and the consequent costs.

By the end of 1948, costs were more than double the predicted £176m, reaching£400m.

Today, we face the same issues Bevan encountered and more. How we confront them will define whether we see the NHS through the prism of cost or principle.

The NHS faces unprecedented financial and operational challenges as a result of a rising demand for services and constrained resources.

DES MORGAN, Caraway Drive, Swindon

Look at profit and loss

SHOULD our prospective MPs be looking at who is making a profit from the NHS and who is ripping us off?

ROY SMALL, Haydon Wick, Swindon

Israel has rights

I AM writing this response to the two latest letters written by Peter Smith and Axmed Bahjad on Israel.

First of all to Peter - I do not obtain my information at all from Israeli military press releases, but from (among others) well respected informed sources such as the Jewish Virtual Library and Palestinian Media Watch.

May I suggest to both of you look at these and then form your own judgments with an open mind.

I was pleasantly surprised to read that Peter did acknowledge the murder of the entire Jewish community of Hebron in 1929 by the Palestinians, though he almost appeared to justify it by the rise of Zionism.

He is quite correct that the events in Jenin I was alluding to, did take place in 2002 and not the 1990s.

However, the thing is, if you knew that the Israelis went into Jenin to root out the terrorists that blew up 100 buses and killed 1,500 Israelis, why did you not mention these facts?

Could it be that you are practising censorship in order to present what I believe to be your very unbalanced view on this issue to the readers?

I have yet to see you denounce the terrorist activities of Hamas, who still have in their charter the destruction of Israel.

To Axmed Bahjad, I thought that I had quite clearly answered your letter so, to reiterate my response again, Israel never has and never will target innocent civilians - never!

I reject and refute the charge that Israel killed more than 3,700 innocent civilians - that is a lie, perpetrated by those that have for years lied and defamed the nation state of Israel.

And for you to use the word “genocide” in relation to the Palestinian people is an insult to those who have truly suffered that terrible outcome in the Holocaust.

May i respectfully ask those who take such a wilful, blinkered view of Israel to truly have an open mind.

Should they do that I believe they would arrive at a different conclusion.

Israel is not perfect, far from it, but she does have the moral, historical, legitimate right to exist, to live in peace and security.

Then the Middle East, indeed the whole world would see what a blessing she is to the nations.

STEVE JACK, Parsonage Court, Highworth

Question recalled?

ON OCTOBER 19 last year, there was a full council cabinet meeting in the civic offices, those who attended were published in the council’s document for the meeting.

During the public question time, a woman who I think came from either Old Town or Wroughton, asked Coun Martin, to confirm if the reports that the non parish area precept payments were going to be cut from £47.005 to a new rate of £25.45, and that every household in the borough was going to pay the charge.

She also asked what these new charges were going to be used for. Mrs Martin confirmed that the rate was going to be cut as described and also confirmed that it would be used ‘for other things.’

If you now look at the new council tax invoice, there is no mention of these charges, so I asked the council to confirm if it had been included in the overall council tax.

The council leader has now said he can’t remember the question and he wasn’t there.

Can I ask if the woman who asked the question can confirm what I have said?

And anybody who attends these cabinet meetings should be aware that public questions are not recorded until you ask them, when the proceedings move to room 6.

Perhaps the Adver reporter, on the night, might also confirm these details, from his notes of the evening.

T REYNOLDS, Wheeler Avenue, Swindon

More homes needed

THE letter by Terry Hayward (May 18) talks about some of the problems of privatisation that have occurred in Britain over the years under various governments.

The serious problem that he does not mention is the privatisation of rented housing. Millions of council houses have been sold under the Right To Buy Scheme.

This was a very popular policy during the 1980s but 30 years later problems have started to appear in the rented sector.

The young generation now find themselves in the middle a housing crisis. Young people find that they cannot afford to rent or buy and the waiting list for a council house is 1.4 million.

Only a substantial increase in the council house building programme can ease the problem for young families looking for a decent home to raise their children.

MARTIN COSTELLO, Islandsmead, Eldene, Swindon

Thanks to you all

I WAS rushed into hospital on January 24 with pneumonia but am now clear.

My main reason for writing this letter is to praise the staff at the Great Western Hospital.

They saved my life and I cannot fault them at all. This also includes the people who looked after me when I was back home. They were all brilliant.

Also, family and friends who have been with me every step of the way. Thank you all.

BERYL SANDERS, Beckhampton Street, Swindon