NHS crisis is no surprise – it is suffering from a terminal illness

Its sorry state should come as no surprise to anyone who takes even a cursory interest in the way this country has been run; or should that be run down?

To use an ironic analogy, this institution which was once a source of our pride and joy, is now suffering from a serious illness – in fact a terminal one.

Unfortunately, none of the people who run the show, not one, from the Prime Minister, to the Health Secretary, and downwards, will admit, or acknowledge the cause of this illness.

When confronted in the media, they will waffle and witter on in generalisations about increased demand, and trot out the misleading platitude, about the growing numbers of elderly in our society. However, none of them will mention the P word - Population; and the massive growth in the numbers of people moving to settle in this small island of ours, particularly over the last decade.

Like the politicians who are rightly concerned and sensitive, about where their policies have led us, I will not expand on the causes of population growth on English soil, one would have had to be out of the country on a 20 year mission to the planet Zloog not to know it.

So, that being said, what can be done to save our stricken NHS? Alas, nothing really.

We can continue to throw billions of pounds at it, but the root cause of its slow but inexorable decline, which is population growth, will continue unabated, at an ever increasing rate, and the powers that be, who could have acted but failed to, like the rest of us will just have to watch it happen.

John Reed

Wolverhampton