I’m a doctor and I know the NHS is on life support

AS A frontline GP for more than 30 years, I agree there has to be a radical change in the NHS.

Micro-management, targets and expecting a beleaguered workforce to ‘work smarter’ will not work. As Tom Utley quite rightly highlighted in his Mail column, you can have a litigation culture or a welfare state, but not both.

The invisible damage done to the NHS by not having a no-fault system is immense. It encourages defensive medicine and takes nurses away from tasks — and that’s before the direct costs.

You can’t blame the staff for defensive work practices when they fear being hung out to dry.

The NHS workforce is not the problem. Their dedication and goodwill has postponed this crisis for years.

What is disappointing is that there doesn’t appear to be the political will to be honest with the country. The result is that there soon won’t be enough resources left to reconstruct.

Patients will have to change as well because we can’t have quantity and quality. We need a huge exercise in reality, which may well involve changing the funding mechanism of the NHS.

Dr CAMERON WILSON,

Leyland, Lancs.