To think it's unfair to boat Boris Johnson for the state of the NHS

[InkedGreen]

Or the Tories for that matter, labour started with the privatisation of it and the tories carried it on (at a slower pace).

But ultimately the NHS is underfunded because the general public don't want to pay more. Sure lots say they are happy to pay more, but when it actually comes down to it most aren't happy.tp do so. We have a buldge of people reaching retirement age and more tax needs to be paid to have a good health service but no party is talking about increasing taxes to cover health care. What the NHS does with its budget is good, but other countries pay far more per head and get better results.

If we want the NHS to improve we the public (including the media) need to stop with the howls of indignation every time the idea of doing something sensible (that other Liberal or even socialist countries with superior health care systems do) is proposed, for example -

• ID card system so only UK taxpayers are treated for free, everyone else is charged

• small charge for GP appointments which can in part be reimbursed when appointment is attended

• prescriptions are paid for apart from very exceptional cases

• non-essential treatments are charged for (even if this is at cost so no profit made) including ivf

• charge for food whilst in hospital for those who can afford it

We can't just go in forever with everything being completely free (to everyone) and expect a first-world service.

We ultimately as a nation need to choose, a better service that's still free at point of use for (British citizens) who can't afford to pay, but some elements are funded privately and/or through charging, or the third-rate healthcare we get now.

We’ve been pushed into debt this month because we’re having to pay for private speech therapy for DS. He is theoretically under the care of the NHS speech therapy service, but they have no budget and provide no therapy whatsoever. If we weren’t paying, he’d get nothing until he started school. We have savings we can use to sort ourselves out and family support, but we’re struggling. That is down to the choices of the Tories - and Boris has been influential in that party for years. He was a cabinet minister ffs - he’s not just stepped fresh into the job last week. The NHS has been crippled and my son is one of the many paying the price for that. And I do blame Boris and his blue rosette wearing cronies. I hate them. They’ve written my son off at the age of 3, and I hate them for it. I'm sorry Spudlet but these problems existed in SALT more than 20 years ago. Suddenly we were only allowed to deliver 'packages' of 6 sessions instead of giving therapy till patients were 'better'. I worked in clinics for preschoolers and ran a school service. We assessed and devised progammes to be delivered by other people. This is the main reason I retrained as a teacher. Best wishes to you and your DS.