Ageing and the NHS | @guardian.co.uk

Most of us use the NHS mostly in our final two many years of lifestyle. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

Your examination (A public admission of what a lot of are saying in private, five April) repeats the assertion that “ageing alone [is] estimated to add £1bn a yr to the NHS’s fees”, but then adds that “most of us use the NHS primarily in our final two many years of life”. These two years are the exact same whether or not one is in one’s 70s, 80s, 90s or past. There is no sudden added burden on the NHS that can justify current handwringing and claims as to its unaffordability. Our “ageing population” is reducible to two triggers: grownups are residing healthier lives for longer and are possessing fewer children. Most mothers and fathers take their children to the GP much more frequently than they take themselves, but no a single complains that child health is an unsustainable burden on the taxpayer. Please can we have fewer spurious arguments towards universal public provision, and less ageism? It is negative adequate becoming accused of hoovering up all the houses without being forced to apologise for wilfully continuing to breathe.
Dr Anne Summers (aged 70, as it happens)
London

Ageing and the NHS | @guardian.co.uk