YP Letters: NHS undermines itself with black hole of expensive waste

From: Chris Ramus, Harrogate.
Does the NHS waste too much money?Does the NHS waste too much money?
Does the NHS waste too much money?

I WRITE in reply to Alan Chapman’s letter (The Yorkshire Post, August 5) and have had a similar experience regarding waste in the NHS.

I’m a supporter of the work that goes on in the NHS. In the last two years, I have had wonderful treatment at Harrogate Hospital and I cannot praise the service there highly enough.

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However, I was prescribed to wear a knee brace a few months ago. The brace was brand new, I unpacked it and it came with a neat shoulder bag for transportation. Four months later, on seeing a different consultant, I was advised not to continue wearing the brace as it wasn’t having the desired effect.

Yesterday I returned the brace to the hospital so that another patient could use it. I was advised that since I had worn the brace, it would have to be either disposed of, or sent to Africa. The staff informed me that it was a big frustration for them to see such waste.

They said this knee brace had cost the NHS £400 to buy in. So after only a few weeks, the brace is of no use to anyone. I know this is at the lower end of the scale and that’s the worrying bit. Imagine what the wastage is when you multiply my story by hundreds of thousands.

This experience demonstrates why the NHS will never have enough money. It strikes me that the NHS is out of control and is a “black hole” from which billions are wasted.

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I have heard of patients being prescribed painkillers that can be bought at low cost over the counter.

I have also heard of patients who think the NHS is there to pay for everything they may need, including a new pair of shoes.

The NHS was never set up for this kind of abuse. It was set up to give free treatment to all at their point of need.

There is far too much abuse of this valuable service.

My concern is that nothing will happen to manage the NHS better and stories like mine will be common place decades from now.

From: AW Clarke, Wold Croft, Sutton on Derwent.

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AM I alone in my view that 
Jamie Oliver, a renowned and no doubt very able chef, should 
stick to cooking and leave the rest of us to decide what we 
think about politics (The Yorkshire Post, August 8).

It really is remarkable 
how success in one field 
seems to give celebrities the mistaken impression that 
they have the right to regale us all with their, very often, naive views.

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