SINCE it began in 1948, the NHS was always going to be playing catch up.

We as a country were in serious financial uncertainty, although there was, a dire need for a National Health Service.

It had been on most politicians' minds, from Ramsey Macdonald to those that were health ministers in the War Cabinet. It was of a cross party consensus.

Labour were in power at the time, but this did not mean it was solely their brainchild. The main opposition to the NHS was the British Medical Association, BMA.

Over  the years, the BMA have done much to hinder the progress of the NHS.

In the same way that the poor standards in our state education, also suffered under the same financial restraints.

Then with the need to get people back into industry, so that the country could prosper, it was hard to recruit people into the medical profession.

With advancements in science, the need for more highly qualified people was again putting a great financial strain on the NHS.

Then with the sudden population explosion, there were never enough hospitals to meet everyone's needs.

And that was before the pandemic had hit these shores.

With political unrest and lack of foresight over many decades, our financial uncertainties tittered on the brink of total collapse.

There was never enough money to run an NHS properly, when money was at its greatest need.

Now we have the attitude that "we don’t want to get our hands dirty" and therefore we won't take on a job that that requires lifting.  

The NHS was no different to any other business. It did not want the bother of training staff and preferred to recruit from abroad, which was cheaper and more efficient.

That was the sole reason to recruit foreign staff at that time   

Those were the positives.

The negatives were that the population was going to increase even more. Yes, you are right that the NHS was again going to need more beds, more staff and much more money.

With more people heading for our highly prized welfare state, the need for more housing should also have been thought of. So, a lack of housing raised house prices and that then raised the price of renting.

Cheap staff were being employed, whose basic salary could not cover the high rents that were being demanded.

Hospitals were also finding it hard to find staff at all. Then, to add to the problem, many of our hospitals were too old for the needs of a modern NHS.

The upkeep costs then became another strain on those hospitals, with the antiquated buildings becoming a nightmare to manage.

So all of these financial pressures will lead to mistakes being made.

We clapped for our nursing heroes, and demanded more pay for them. Rishi Sunak agreed to our demands and he will now have to raise the national insurance rate.

Now people seem to have changed their minds and don't want to pay the for a better health care system.

Shame on Keir Starmer for not seeing that a windfall tax would not be a long term way to pay for the NHS.

Spencer Carvil

Egginton Road

Brighton