Letter: Start charging for services to reduce waste within the NHS
Following the comments by Professor Willets in your paper that millions could avoid going to A&E.
It is my view that the NHS is no longer a service in this country but a religion. With great congregations gathering daily to attend their services at surgeries and A&E.
There can be no other country in the world so obsessed with matters of health and wasting billions in the process.
It is long past the time that the government of the day along with the medical and nursing profession realised the service is unsustainable as a totally free service and that charges must be made to access doctors A&E and calling ambulances.
The people of this country must be made more responsible for their lives and value medical the services available. The misuse and abuse in all departments is totally unacceptable, with hundreds of appointments not kept every day. Put a charge on of £15 and watch that all change.
To visit the surgery £10; to visit A&E £25 to £30 and if you call an ambulance £50. I can assure you the situation would change overnight, and then doctors and nurses can deal with the people who need their help.
I am told that 60 per cent of ambulance calls are unnecessary, currently there are more ambulances going past our house than buses.
Last week I had to call the plumber and as he walked through the door it was £60, and we expect to have someone caring for us free.
The majority of people in this country have money for everything, cars, holidays, and kitchens etc but not their health.
The old story that often comes up is, I have paid for this service all my life. Most of us have never paid enough for one good operation mine included.
Of course not one MP of any party would ever dare to mention such a change, but in the end I believe it will have to happen.
Geoff Inwood, Shrewsbury
