Readers' letters: Social Contract ripped up by ailing NHS

Along with the NHS, I was born in 1948. I am saddened, and beyond disappointed, by the state that the NHS has been allowed to descend into.

An institution first considered in the 1930s and finally established in the late 1940s, has over the decades been mismanaged by “the establishment”, consisting of “the great and the good”, politicians, medical Royal Colleges, universities and other institutions with vested interests.

Apparently unaware of the changing population demographics and advances in medical practice, the NHS, and thus medical care, has been allowed to drift along, bolstered by its popularity, and subjected to minor reorganisations and disastrous financial mismanagement.

The suggestion that the answers could come from the “Establishment” establishing a Royal Commission, made up of the same “great and good”, is yet another example of poverty of new ideas.

Aneurin Bevan (second left) talks to the NHS' first patient, Sylvia Diggory, 13, at Trafford Genera Photo. Photo credit should read: Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust/PA

The people of the UK, who hold the NHS in high regard, need to be challenged as they want the state to provide quality services which they are not keen to fund by paying taxes.

Having paid National Insurance over decades thinking that I was party to a Social Contract which would care for my needs in later life, the degraded NHS informs me that, along with millions of other citizens, I must suffer in pain for some years and with restricted opportunities to enjoy what life I have left.

During my working life, I forsook private practice health care. Healthcare should be available to all. I have nothing against private healthcare as a concept. I do object to the fact that the private sector employs clinicians and other staff who have been educated at public expense, trained in the NHS, and whose professional accreditation and continuing education is almost certainly facilitated by also being NHS employees. The private sector should educate and train its own staff and not be parasitic on the NHS.

Gordon Smart, Edinburgh

Ireland flourishes

On “Scexit”, I suggest that Alexander McKay (Letters, 7 January) visits Ireland where, without the benefit of the £300 billion in taxes raised from Scotland’s oil, their citizens enjoy a higher standard of living than Scotland in the UK.

In Ireland, the basic pension is £214 a week compared to £185 in the UK and the average annual salary in the UK is £29,600 whereas it is £38,000 in Ireland. Irish citizens live a year longer than the UK average and are far more likely to describe their personal health as good.

Their economic wealth per person exceeds the UK. Fewer are in poverty and have far lower levels of income inequality. They are more highly educated.

Ireland has a younger population with one in five born elsewhere while Labour and Tory outbid each other on curbing immigration. As part of the EU, Ireland has built a well-working, modern republic that delivers for its citizens.

Since Brexit, 1,200 financial sector jobs have moved from London to Dublin and over 40 direct sailings each week to Europe transport Ireland’s exports. So, why not an energy rich independent Scotland with a healthy balance of trade surplus?

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh

Car stickers

I occasionally see on rear car windows and bumpers the sticker that says “YES..’ but never a vehicle with ‘NO’ prominent.

Is this because those not in favour of independence leave their concern for the well-being of Scotland to be ultimately delivered at the ballot box, or is it concern that showing their allegiance to the Union could cause damage to the vehicle by dissent?

John Brown, Edinburgh

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