DAVID Crawford (Letters, October 15) writes regarding NHS performance, simplistically blaming Westminster, asserting a worse NHS situation south of the Border, and stating insufficient taxes are returned to Scotland.

Public Health Scotland data reveals a 21 per cent pre-pandemic reduction in inpatient treatments delivered between 2013 and 2019, from 345,000 to 274,000, and consequential spiralling record waiting lists. Much of this is driven by reductions in hospital beds. Despite a growing population, outpatient treatments completed show a slight reduction over the same period, despite additional funding and increased staffing. Again this has contributed to record waiting lists.

Hospital delayed discharges grew to record levels as the pandemic hit in February 2020 with 1,616 beds blocked on average every day compared to a pro-rated England figure of 540, some three times less.

For key diagnostic tests, performance had plummeted to just 80% completed within six weeks by the end of 2019 compared to 96% in England – a huge performance difference and in a vital NHS service. Drug deaths are nearly five times the England level, with funding for residential rehabilitation in Scotland having been cut to the bone. Historic Kings Fund reports found the NHS in England overall slightly outperformed the Scotland NHS.

Analysis by Kevin Hague of the These Islands think tank of Scotland's national accounts 20/21 (GERS) shows Scotland generated £382 less tax per person than the UK average, and spending of £1,828 more per person. We spend more on everything, literally, so every pound of tax raised in Scotland generates a generous UK premium in return.

The 2021 IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) spending report states health spending in Scotland was "10% higher in 2009-10 and just 3% higher in 2019-20" than in England. That is the crux of the issue. It is principally that significant diversion of funding away from our NHS in the last decade by the SNP Government that has caused the NHS waiting times crisis.

Richard Richardson, Glasgow.

UNIONIST THINKING HARD TO UNDERSTAND

HOW much more blatantly incompetent must Boris Johnson and the Tory Government become before the vast majority of the Scottish public realises that a more egalitarian society offering a better future for our grandchildren can only be achieved through self-determination?

Even a Conservative-led committee at Westminster concluded that the coronavirus response was “one of the UK’s worst ever public health failings”. It is bad enough that successive UK governments have presided over decades of Scotland’s manufacturing demise and increasing wealth inequality, while billions of pounds flowed from Scotland’s oil and gas fields into the UK Treasury, before Tory-imposed austerity over the last decade pushed many thousands of our citizens, including children, into poverty. It is democratically outrageous that in spite of providing sensible compromise proposals following the Brexit referendum that the Scottish Government, with a clear majority of the Scottish electorate in favour of remaining in the European Union, was not only ignored but an ideological extreme was pursued which, as anticipated, is already proving catastrophic for Scotland’s food and drinks industry.

However, with confirmation that tens of thousands of deaths could have been avoided across the UK, including deaths in Scotland where the number was significantly reduced by comparison in spite of the limited powers of the Scottish Government, it is difficult to comprehend the thinking of those who still seem to believe that perpetual government by those representing the wealthy British establishment in the Commons and Lords is preferable to government by representatives of the Scottish people in Holyrood.

Stan Grodynski Longniddry.

* RICHARD Allison (Letters, October 14) quite rightly, in my opinion, calls for a Scottish Parliamentary inquiry to establish the truth of the Scottish Government handling of Covid. Sadly, I expect that this will be frustrated at every turn and, in any event, what will be the point as it has already been established that, in Scotland, the prime witness can simply respond by having convenient memory lapses?

Duncan Sooman, Milngavie.

BEWARE COP 26 INFECTION RISK

PROFESSOR Linda Bauld has expressed concern about the possible consequences for increased Covid infection levels in Glasgow and the central belt, due to the large number of people coming from all over the UK and the world for COP26 ("Expert fears COP26 meet will lead to next wave of coronavirus infections", The Herald, October 15). Jillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian,has voiced similar views.

In Glasgow and other communities in the central belt, a significant proportion of the population are poor, and therefore vulnerable and at high risk. I hope Glasgow and central belt MSPs have already sought assurances from the Health Secretary that he has contingency plans to deal with any serious infection situation that might arise during or post-COP26.

Jim Sillars, Edinburgh.

UNIONS MUST THINK OF CONSEQUENCES

I WONDER if union leaders understand the implications of the intended rail strike, timed to coincide with COP in Glasgow ("COP26 chaos fears after double strike vote blow", The Herald, October 15).

It will obstruct people from participating in one of the most important meetings ever held on Earth. Consider the millions already displaced around the world by the current climate disruptions – that is a small portent of problems to come, ones that could be avoided if good decisions are made in Glasgow.

It will hit people who have planned for this moment, saved for it, raised funds to get here from worldwide and found accommodation in the central belt; their daily journey of the last 40 or 50 miles will be made impossible.

It will also affect the politicisation of a generation of young people, poised to come to the workshops in Glasgow. They will learn to distrust unions instead.

Were they to recognise this wider picture and reschedule the strike then, if it's seen as just, there will be many people standing with them. Continue and they will be seen as having in effect sided with the commercial and political powers that need to be confronted at the COP events ... not the usual objectives of unions.

Dr MJ Mineter, Edinburgh.

* REFUSE workers in Glasgow have voted to strike during COP26. Given the condition of the city, one might be tempted to ask "How will we notice the difference?". I wonder whether the electric vehicles that will whisk COP26 delegates from their cruise ship accommodation to the conference venues have dark-tinted windows? That would help to protect them from the sight of mounds of rubbish and scurrying rats in the city to which they have been invited.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

BIG COMPANIES ARE LETTING US DOWN

WHY are the big national companies so hard to deal with and nearly impossible to contact?

I recently moved to a newly-built house during which time I had protracted dealings with BT and ScottishPower. After many hours on the telephone I managed to resolve my issues with BT, and am now happy with the service it provides.

Scottish Power is much worse. Since July I have been regularly in touch with the customer service department by email and telephone and having to deal with a different person every time I contact them. They only seem capable of giving an individual identification number and they are unable to provide me with a telephone number on which I can ring them back. It took me two months to be issued an account number for our property and I am still trying to set up a direct debit for this account and arrange a fixed term tariff – the one I chose some weeks ago has risen considerably but unfortunately ScottishPower failed to set up the agreement for it.

At this time when everyone’s heating costs are rising, surely the national companies should be helping the public dealing with matters quickly and efficiently rather than delaying matters in the hope that customers sign up to a fixed rate tariff that has risen considerably in the meantime. What a great shame that the latest rise in energy prices means the loss of a number of small energy providers, because we are left with no alternative but to go to a big company, whose only interests are purely financial at a cost to the individual customer.

Keith A Cooper, Castle Douglas.

TIME TO BAN COAL-BURNING

WE are experiencing a climate emergency but sadly in Scotland we have not even taken the most basic steps to address it. England has acted to end domestic coal use (to be phased out by May 2023 – a completely unnecessarily-long timescale) but Scotland has not yet started to address this issue.

People living in local authority properties and other tenants are still heating their houses with antiquated back boilers and they and their communities are facing another winter of horrendous air quality. This is an environmental and health tragedy. Coal smoke has been identified by the World Health Organisation as a major cause of respiratory illness and death. Emergency measures need to be taken now (not in some, as yet unspecified, year in the future).

There is an obvious short term-fix for this – ban coal burning and provide financial support to help people transition to smokeless fuel. This problem is found concentrated in certain areas but the actual numbers are not that high so this would be perfectly feasible. (In the longer term, of course, landlords must be forced to upgrade the heating in their properties to 21st century standards). If we are to trust the SNP/Green alliance’s commitment to social justice it must act on this issue, and act now.

Helena Forsyth, Banchory.

SOME GOOD NEWS FROM SUPER-HOSPITAL

IT was so good to read that little Ollie Mellon was saved by the doctors and staff at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow after he had been born with a life-threatening condition ("Brave baby battled back from birth with organs out of place", The Herald, October 14). This is very good news, not only for his family but also for the hospital at a time when there has been some negative publicity recently. We would all want to wish Ollie and his parents well and recognise the caring work of all the health professionals involved in his care.

Ron Lavalette, Ardrossan.

BOON FROM GAELIC BOOM

WHAT a great idea to increase the teaching of the Gaelic language in Scotland. How else will we manage to reliably identify police cars and ambulances?

Cameron Mann, Glasgow.

Read more: Our NHS will never be properly funded while we are tied to Tory rule