Readers' letters: NHS should be a priority for politicians

Within the last three months, I have been admitted to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary on two occasions.

The first of which was an emergency admission.

I was hospitalised for a total of eight days and, not having stayed in a hospital before, I have to report that the standard of care, professionalism and dedication of all the staff was of the very highest order.

Even the often much maligned hospital food was of good quality and well presented.

However, what I did observe was staff working under serious pressures, at a level of which most of us would have simply walked away.

Staff shortages and the lack of funding in all areas of hospital life were clearly evident and my experience would tell me that the same is true of many GP practices.

This is not the fault of the hospital trust, the management, or the GPs, but the blame clearly lies at the door of the current Government which has, amongst other things, underfunded the service, restricted the level of pay rises to vital staff, abolished bursaries for trainee nurses and generally undervalued a service which is the envy of the world.

Despite this, and ignoring what is obvious to people who do not sit in ivory towers but see these things first hand, the politicians trot out the mantra that spending on the NHS has never been higher.

However, what they fail to do is reconcile the budget with the increasing demands made on the service which, if they did, would clearly demonstrate a serious lack

of resources.

Forget Brexit, my vote at the next election will go to the political party which promises to address this urgent problem, demonstrates in a practical way that it values the incredible staff who work within all areas of the NHS and provide those who are ill with timely healthcare.

Mike Jones

Lancaster