I am not sure how old David Wearn is on your letters page last week.

I may be somewhat older, but can’t recall a time when the NHS wasn’t suffering a crisis.

I won’t bore your readers with a catalogue of the bare-faced cheek of the BMA and others objecting to virtually any reforms.

I well remember in London, and the same will be true for all the major cities, during the last Labour government, when patients waited on trolleys, when operations were cancelled, when people queued around the block to get registered onto dentists’ lists.

It ill behoves the Labour party and its supporters to pretend that its problems are all due to Lansley and the coalition.

It’s time we faced up to the basic question that, despite the current government pouring billions into the service, it remains under never- ending stress.

I don’t know how we can expect to manage its affairs, let alone pay for our expectations, when it seems that its okay for countless numbers of people who haven’t paid in to be offered its services, as though there was no cost.

Barry Wimbledon,
West Lavington.