THAT the NHS isn't working like a Swiss watch 66 years after its inception, surely tells us that the way it is managed and financed has to change if it is to survive.
The praise we all lavish on doctors and nurses, and the mantra of "free at the point of delivery" is wasted by the very nature of NHS (mis)management, and compounded by continual policy changes as one government gives way to another.
Unfortunately, instead of accepting that the NHS needs the security of long-term planning and the financing, the forthcoming general election looks as though we shall be offered more of the same, as one party after another adds another sticking plaster.
Of course the NHS is not unique. Our emergency services, education, pensions and care for the elderly are treated in the same appalling manner, while things that we do not need or cannot afford in these hard times, such as the Trident replacement programme, HS2 and overseas aid receive all the support and finance they demand.
Priorities need to change.
GRAHAM CARPENTER Leominster
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