The readers responding to your article on food banks (‘Why should anyone be hungry when there’s food that can be given away?’ The heroes feeding their neighbours, 23 May) are right to highlight that charities are stepping in to fill the gaping holes in government provision (Letters, 26 May). Alarmingly, this also applies to the NHS. A letter for a routine appointment at our local hospital was accompanied by a leaflet saying: “We need your help to raise £201,000 to train the next generation of eye surgeons across Wessex.”
Whatever next? Sponsor a scalpel? Buy a bedpan? These are core costs. The NHS has funding per capita significantly below comparable European countries. It needs more money from taxes, not charity.
Ray Kipling
Holt, Dorset
Rachel Hall’s report (NHS England workforce plan delayed amid rumours of cost issues, 29 May) fills me with dismay. It appears that our present government thinks that the crises in banking and business can be solved by printing money (AKA quantitative easing), but that the impending catastrophes of hunger, climate change and the demographically driven deterioration of our health services are too difficult and expensive to resolve.
Dr Peter Baddeley
Painswick, Gloucestershire
