The concerns expressed by Dr Mark Porter, chair of the British Medical Association, about the dire financial outlook for the NHS (The Argus, December 31) were spot on.

The current Tory/Lib-Dem coalition is guilty of one of the biggest con tricks in the history of politics by stating that NHS finances are “protected” from spending cuts.

If the NHS is being protected, then why are NHS Trusts all over the country having to cut between 5 to 6% from their budgets in this financial year and again from April 2014?

The general public is being taken for a ride while hard-pressed NHS staff and managers find ever more desperate ways in which to cut budgets – while still trying to maintain a good standard of service.

This is taking an enormous toll on many NHS staff who are being expected to do more and more with fewer and fewer actual resources. All this against a background of the threat of being “outsourced” to private companies whose main motive is inevitably making a profit.

Of course we need a sensible, reasoned debate on how we fund healthcare in the 21st century but if we’re not careful, there will be no NHS to be part of these plans for the future.

Peter Atkinson, Wolseley Road, Portslade