November 11: Small savings would add up for Health Service

REGARDING the National Health Service overspend, it appears to me that the Secretary of State for Health is not interested in small savings, but perhaps only the grand gesture. It is easy to forget that small drips empty a bucket. The amount of money that disappeared in Mrs Thatcher’s years would have paid for two hospitals.

Putting someone in overall charge of the items in every ward, with a bonus if all is accounted for at the end of each year, would probably save millions.

Medicines should only be packed in the smallest packages necessary for the required dosage, this would also save a considerable amount. How many times have we read that this medicine will not be viable after six months, when there are enough doses to last five years!

The packaging of medicine also requires looking at because some is quite unnecessarily complicated, all for the benefit of the supplier of course.

Naturally some people have a vested interest in the status quo because they might lose their lucrative jobs if things were tightened up. It is difficult to get the people at the top to listen to those of us who know what is most likely happening.

My dear friend Philip Davies MP does his best, but it is a hard struggle!