The NHS has been my lifelong companion – now it’s in crisis

Born in 1947, I feel that I have been fortunate to live each year of my life under the care of the NHS. My current good health, attributable in no small part to the NHS, contrasts markedly with the current sad state of the health system itself. I feel desperately sorry for those working in a crumbling, dysfunctional and underfunded system that is struggling to serve people today.

The crisis in our hospitals is tragic and thousands are suffering on waiting lists that were unimaginable a short time ago, and the primary care system is clearly at breaking point. I wonder how many of the patients who had to “make do” with telephone GP consultations would not have preferred a traditional appointment. I cannot believe that any GP would not feel that their diagnostic skills are compromised by being unable to see the patient.

I have lost count of the number of tales that I have heard about worried patients wasting hours on the phone trying to get through to the practice. Simply wanting to “see the doctor” is now no longer possible.

We are short of doctors, nurses, carers and countless others in the service and money from taxation is the only answer. Our current political leaders are callous apologists for their failure to address the problem. The agenda, I strongly suspect, is to encourage the growth of private health for those who can afford it, resulting in the death of my lifelong friend and companion, the National Health Service.

John Dillon

Birmingham

Anybody who heard the victim statement of Sarah Everard’s mother cannot fail to be deeply moved by its poignancy.

As I am sure her murderer would never participate in a restorative justice programme in which he met the poor girls family, perhaps it would be appropriate for him to have to listen to Sarah’s mother’s words every day of his lifetime prison sentence.

If she has to live with her pain every day of her life, it would seem just that so should he.

Leo Thomas

Manchester

I agree with Mary Dejevsky that Keir Starmer’s earnest, rational and sincere language is unmemorable and easily forgotten. The word “trivial” is not in as common parlance as other words that have been used about the prime minister and will not resonate with the bulk of the electorate.

As she predicts, I do remember him saying that we should  “prepare to lose loved ones before their time” though not as a mark of his honesty and sincerity, but as a shockingly callous excuse for his ineptitude and half-thought out belief in herd immunity.

Johnson benefits hugely from using direct language and memorable soundbites, most of which are without substance and devoid of anything resembling a plan for converting shallow policies into practice. Being valueless and opportunistic, he has no problems with making simplistic promises to whoever is in front of him, and is unbothered by the need to state the opposite when the audience changes.

Johnson understands how politics works and exploits the terrain shamelessly. Starmer is learning to be a politician and is struggling to catch up with the “Prime Manipulator”. I have heard too many lies and obfuscations from Johnson over recent years and been infuriated by his inability to answer questions when called to account.

Unfortunately, for many, these – and other – failings are part of his charm.

Graham Powell

Cirencester

Are anti-vaxxers all too young to remember a world without vaccines? Great numbers suffered horrible deaths from smallpox, babies died choked by diphtheria, children were maimed for life by polio and often left with damaged hearts. Some developed epilepsy from whooping cough, and many, many people have been killed by tetanus and typhoid. I could go on.

Which of these would the anti-vaxxers prefer not to be protected against? Where’s the publicity campaign to tell of these vanquished or widely controlled diseases? Oh for a vaccine against dangerous irrationality and wilful ignorance!

Jane Valentine

Colchester

Well this is all going swimmingly isn’t it folks?  The fuel situation is likely to continue for another week before we see any improvement, so the government spokesman Kit Malthouse tells us, but they won’t be doing anything about it, and the public must just get on with it.

The shortage of truck drivers seems almost unresolvable and no workable suggestions or solutions are being promoted by the government. The shelves in the shops may not be looking very healthy for many of us for months to come.

We have rising energy costs and energy companies continue to fail having had advance payments from their customers. We have a mounting crisis in care homes with a growing shortage of workers and huge backlogs facing the NHS.

Just how much worse do things have to get before the government realises that the root cause of these problems isn’t Covid? It’s the result of a lack of planning on their part and a failure to understand the complexity of the problems and join the dots.

If they feel that they have neither the ability nor the compassion to put into place some appropriate measures, then can I suggest they make way for a government that will ensure that the country doesn’t grind to a shuddering halt.

For those of us who have some common sense, so much of this was utterly predictable. We need, whether we like it or not, the youth and vigour of our young European neighbours on whom so many of our commercial sectors have become dependent. And we need to make sure that they are welcomed, valued and appreciated.

Patricia White

Milton Keynes