Readers Letters: We need a national conversation about health service

It comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone who has worked at the coalface of the NHS in the last 40 years and reflected deeply upon its destiny that Audit Scotland has added yet another voice to the cacophony that proclaims impending doom for our struggling NHS (your report, 4 December).

The President of the Royal College of Physicians, Professor Andrew Elder, an eminent doctor, and Colin Poolman, Director of RCN Scotland, an eminent nurse, in particular will not be surprised to hear that an extra £3 billion and 20,000 extra staff has made little meaningful improvements both in clinical outcomes and the disgraceful health inequalities in modern Scotland.

Pouring more and more money into an organisation suffocated by multi-layered, outrageously expensive “management”, and bled year after year by the vested interests of Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Legal and other outsourced procurements is manifestly not an answer.

The Scottish NHS, overseen by Cabinet Health Secretary Neil Gray, is in dire straits, reckons reader (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The answers, when the public and their politicians finally wake up to the urgency of this matter, are simple. They include the return to clinician and citizen control in decentralised local health, democratically populated Health Councils.

The extirpation of gravy trains and every parasitic body that diverts our willingly proffered taxes from the direct care of the sick or disabled.

The proper care and stewardship of the working lives and prospects of those who provide vocationally driven care for the sick or disabled whose pay and status differentials have been eclipsed by managerialism and neoliberal austerity.

Finally, nationwide serious public health and self-care initiatives are required, driven by well-informed and passionate parliamentarians who see their role as providing leadership and inspiration rather than than playing a nauseating game of political football.

We need a massive national conversation with cross-party participation and authentic citizen and professional engagement at the earliest possible date post May 2026. The national cohesion this may generate would augar well for any constitutional change in the coming decade. Is there a politician out there with the personal and professional credentials to lead this most pressing national concern? They need to stand up and make thenselves known!

(Dr) Andrew Docherty MRCP, Selkirk, Scottish Borders

Centre parked?

The pathetic attempts by the SNP government to malign the UK Government at every opportunity continue with John Swinney’s latest effort concerning the financing of the Dunard Centre. He now bemoans the fact that after their initial £20 million contribution, the UK Government was “missing” when more finance was found to be required.

If Scotland were independent no initial £20m would have been received but, no doubt, that would have been covered by access to those wonderful levers we keep being reminded of, which will take care of all our financial woes.

Stewart Henderson, Edinburgh

Poor show

It’s hard to disagree with The Scotsman editorial of 3 December, about the think tank Our Scottish Future, when they criticise the Holyrood parliament for short termism, a “win at all costs” mentality, for putting party before the common good. This has been the SNP performance for the past 18 years. No party is perfect, and many of the same criticisms can be made against Westminster as well! Overall, not good.

William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian

Think ahead

By all accounts our country is in a spiral to nonentity status. There is little need to spell out why this is so, we have all lived through it and continue to see it every day.

The elephant in the room, to use management speak, is that we as a country have no long-term plans as to how we want to live some 30 to 50 years hence. We have to have that long-term view because without it there is nothing but continual change and counter change. We have this at present due to our electoral cycle which enforces short-termism as our main political parties vie for control of parliament and country. That, principally, is why we have no direction, no real growth and focus on issues that while they may seem important to part of the population do nothing to move our country forward in terms of trade, wealth creation or security.

Yes, we can look back and point the finger at events that seem to derail us but they would be just a hiccup if we had long-term plans for the future.

An example of this could be energy needs. Obviously without a reliable form of energy all other plans for wealth creation based on trade fall by the wayside. I understand that previous governments in the Seventies and Eighties recognised this and proposed that nuclear should form the basis of our energy production. Unfortunately, these governments were superseded by others who did not recognise how important energy was to the country, and so we end up nearly half a century later heading into a morass of energy bolt-ons based on “renewable sources” with wind as the main component, and that requires back-up sources such as gas, battery or nuclear.

I suggest that this madness might not have happened if we had plans that stand the test of time, and thought to evaluate the pros and cons of various energy solutions at the time.

Another example might be the loss of our manufacturing to cheaper overseas countries. A long-term view would have highlighted that this loss would hollow out an essential component of wealth and job creation and deny us the opportunity to be at the forefront of future technology advances such as automation.

It is said that if we can see the problem, solutions can be found. It is difficult to see, given our present system of government with almost diametrically opposite views held by the two main parties and one of these almost totally opposed to real wealth creation and growth, how the future for our country and people can be other than quite bleak.

A Lewis, Coylton, Ayrshire

Stolen magic

I applaud Cameron Wyllie for his feature “Don’t let ignorant, racist fools tell Scotland’s schools what to do” (Perspective, 4 December). Social media has a great deal to answer for. Fired up by empty racist hatred online, some disgruntled people of Dalmarnock and Inverness are only too ready to pick on a handy scapegoat. Shame on them! Far better to expend their energy helping out with the organising of Christmas concerts, studying a course in TEFL or giving a helping hand to any number of short-staffed causes. I feel for the children. Christmas concerts were a highlight for me as a child. A little bit of magic, stolen from them by racism and humbuggery.

Joyce Gunn Cairns, Edinbur gh

Bleak midwinter

Do politicians both North and South of the Border actually consider the consequences of their actions? It would appear not. John Swinney and the SNP continue to ignore women's rights and Rachel Reeves and Labour are transfixed by child poverty.

Mr Swinney appears oblivious to court judgments which undermine his case and Ms Reeves has not noticed the number of charity shops closing due to her taxation policies, hurting needy people. Add in the lack of trust both the SNP and Labour have created by constantly U-turning or being economical with the truth.

It is a bleak picture and all we are getting is new, even more extreme political parties being formed. How does this help?

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Mind your tongue

I hear that the leader of far right party Reform UK is critical of the number of children in Glasgow who do not speak English as a first language.

I have only this to say to Nigel Farage, awa an bile yer heid!

Ni Holmes, St Andrews, Fife

Better guidance

Girlguiding’s decision to stop admitting boys who identify as girls is long overdue.

Admission based on gender identity has encouraged the stereotype that a boy who is gentle or prefers girls’ company must really be a girl. Recasting such non-conformity as a female identity has placed them at risk of a belief system that too readily sees them as “born in the wrong body”, placing them on a medical pathway.

Youth organisations should support children as they are, without ideological interference.

This decision reduces pressure on gender-non-conforming boys and strengthens safeguarding for girls. It is to be hoped The Scout Association now reviews its admissions policy.

Brian Forsyth, Edinburgh

VAR, humbug

“Penalty for Rangers!” A phrase heard too often, including in the annual Edinburgh pantomime two years ago when that was the VAR conclusion of the replay of a joke that fell flat.

As a lifelong Raith Rovers and Scottish football supporter, I do feel our game exhibits a bias that is surely favouring two clubs – OK, one in particular – to the detriment of others. Is it not worth having a season with (dare I say it?) English VAR operators to ensure a level playing field?

I've watched thousands of games over the years and even played for many, many years, but I could not see the offence that saw a late minute draw this week. Of course my spectacles have lenses with clear glass.

Ken Currie, Edinburgh

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