Letters: Health service needs a complete rethink

Mary Dejevsky is right when she states that the NHS should be taken out of British politics, but she misses the point in the rest of her article (25 February). The junior doctors’ dispute with the Government is but a symptom of the death-throes of the NHS in its present form.

What is needed is a non-partisan, independent review of health care in this country. We need to look at what is good and what is bad about the NHS. We need to ask how we are going to cope with an ageing population and why management and admin costs have risen from 5 per cent to nearly 20 per cent since 1980.

The review should also investigate how other countries run their healthcare systems and then come up with proposals for a modern, affordable NHS.

I would like to see the review offer up to six different options and every citizen paying National Insurance sent a voting form with explanations of the pros and cons of each option. All political parties should be asked to accept the outcome of the vote (and pledge to fund that choice) and the new NHS put in the hands of a non-party, independent commission.

As a socialist I would want a health service that is free at the point of use and I am sure that if a review is undertaken by free-thinking non-politicians with no financial interests in private medicine then various acceptable options could be presented to the country.

Mike Jenkins
Bromley, Kent

Mary Dejevsky is sanguine about removal of workers’ rights and proposals for a 24/7 NHS. Such a prospect does not just depend on doctors, however. It would also mean that, for example, pharmacists like me, most of whom have seen their income drop in real terms by at least 20 per cent in the past seven years would also have to sacrifice our weekends for reduced pay. Yippee.

It would also need extra weekend deliveries from drug wholesalers, which do not currently take place after Saturday lunchtime. All that against a background where the Government is imposing a 6 per cent cut in the overall NHS pharmacy budget from October. Perhaps Mary can tell us how that circle can be squared?

Paul Clein
Liverpool

Why is the phrase “holding the country to ransom” never used when middle-class trade unions go on strike?

Ivor Morgan
Lincoln

I have been a supporter of David Cameron since the 2010 election, but on Wednesday at Prime Minister’s Questions he finally showed his true colours as a “posh boy”.

I was educated at a comprehensive school and a former poly university, qualified with a master’s degree and 20 years ago began practising as an accountant. I now run a very successful practice and play an active part in the success of business in the city I love and work in. In all this time I have never worn what the Prime Minister called a “proper suit” to work. Does he want us all in Eton dress in 2016?

Richard Jones
Rowley Regis, West Midlands

David Cameron’s language seemed to illustrate the old adage: you can take the boy out of Bullingdon but you can’t take the Bullingdon out of the boy.

Reference was made to Aneurin Bevan turning in his grave; perhaps Harold Macmillan was doing the same if he heard an Old Etonian speaking as Cameron did. As Harold once said in the Commons: “The right honourable member ought to be able to distinguish between invective and insolence.”

Peter Thompson
Tarleton, Lancashire

In suggesting that his mother would prioritise a person’s appearance and desire to swear allegiance to a non-elected head of state over their concern for the NHS, David Cameron seems to think that she is every bit as shallow and callous as he is.

Dai Watts
London N19

My mother would have said: “Stop squabbling, children.”

Torrens Lyster
Chinnor, Oxfordshire

One of the most frequent arguments put forward by those wishing to leave the EU centres on the desire to regain “sovereignty”. This is fuelled by exaggeration of the numbers of laws and regulations governing us that originate in Brussels put about by advocates of a Brexit, most notably by Ukip.

What is seldom pointed out in response is the fact that, by virtue of our large number of MEPs and qualified majority voting in the Council of ministers, the UK has more influence within the EU than almost all other member countries, with no country having more influence.

Furthermore, most political commentators agree that our so-called “special relationship” with the US – incidentally, given far less emphasis there than here – is in large part bolstered by our influence within the EU.

This is not surprising, since the EU is the most powerful geopolitical body in the world. I find it incredible, and frustrating, that we should be considering leaving this organisation, particularly given the status and influence we have within it relative to other member states.

Francis Kirkham
Crediton, Devon

The principal objection to Britain remaining in Europe appears to be that laws made in Brussels could take precedence over those made in Westminster. I am less concerned about where a law originated than in its quality as a “good” law. The laws introduced by Chris Grayling and now being rescinded come to mind.

I used to hunt with the local pack of foxhounds and, in common with all the other members, I totally disagree with the law banning hunting with hounds. Ironically most of those other hunt members will vote for Brexit, forgetting that the law they abhor was made in Westminster.

They would be free to hunt in most countries in Europe under Brussels law.

Nigel Nicholls
Malmesbury, Wiltshire

We too hope that much-needed reforms in Iran will come about as a result of elections, though in truth it’s hard to feel particularly optimistic over this (editorial, 23 February).

In recent days alone, Iran’s deeply unfair courts have sentenced a film-maker and two musicians to six years in jail for “insulting Islamic sanctities”, and upheld a death sentence against a juvenile offender called Amanj Veisee who was 15 at the time of his alleged crime.

Meanwhile, Iran’s bulging jails continue to hold the UK nationals Roya Nobakht and Kamal Foroughi, both of whom should be released without delay.

Without major structural reform, we fear Iran will go on locking up its journalists, trade unionists and human-rights lawyers, will persist in discriminating against women and ethnic and religious minorities, and will continue executing people at a pace that outstrips every country in the world except China.

Kate Allen
Director, Amnesty International UK, London EC2

The Brexit argument dismisses “safer together” with “that’s the business of Nato and the UN”. However, the togetherness inherent in Europe needs trumpeting, since bailouts are designed to prevent member countries becoming insolvent and falling into the hands of far-right governments.

It doesn’t take much historical insight to see what happens when a failing state glimpses a “saviour” who identifies a scapegoat to round up and destroy. With plenty of such extremist parties waiting in the wings across Europe, I’d say that the EU, though far from perfect, is priceless in terms of world peace.

Why do so many populist arguments have to focus on what is directly “best for Britain” rather than considering how we might vote to forge a better world for future generations?

The Rev Peter Sharp
Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire

Eurosceptics claim the EU Commission is “unelected”. Yes, of course it is; it is the EU Civil Service. Our own UK Civil Service is also “unelected”.

Yes, the Commission does draw up proposals for legislation, but these are for tabling to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The first comprises MEPs elected by popular vote in regional constituencies; the latter comprises elected government ministers from EU countries. So it is elected members who choose whether to accept the proposals or not.

Francesca Weal
Welwyn, Hertfordshire

Caroline Moxley’s mother (letter, 24 February) isn’t a victim of sex discrimination. Her mother chose to accept the Government’s Faustian offer to married women to pay less tax (National Insurance) in return for a reduced pension. Beware of governments bearing gifts!

Martin Oakes
Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire