Star letter: Proper funding for our wonderful NHS
Isn't it about time that our National Health Service ceased being a political football kicked backwards and forwards between Labour and the Tories?
The NHS is a victim of its own great success and because of this people are living a lot longer and in doing so putting greater demands on the service.
If the NHS is to continue to provide for us it should be taken out of politics and be a totally separate service properly funded by an NHS insurance stamp and any other worthwhile method, such as lotteries.
I would happily leave a bequest to a separate NHS, I wouldn't leave a penny, by choice, to a government and I am sure there are plenty of people like me. Proper auditing could be put in place to ensure money was used wisely and increases in stamp costs be implemented when needed. We motorists are aware that the duties we pay to the Government don't get spent on roads and they suffer as a consequence, but a separate NHS could ensure our contributions to them would be spent on health care.
If the NHS was run separately from Government you could guarantee that health tourists would not get away with the free treatment they currently enjoy, skipping off with no intention of paying their dues.
Unless we do something and do it quickly our NHS will reach a point of no return and we will all then pay the price.
Adrian Williams, Bratton
