SIR, Your concerned reader from Coleford "Swings and roundabouts", September 29th is totally justified in expecting a National Health Service in the UK, not a "National Wealth Service". The fact is the people of Britain recognise the enormous benefits of a properly funded NHS, free for all at the point of use, regardless of ability to pay. However your reader's main concern that prescriptions cost less in Wales than in England is not in itself a corruption of this principle, rather it is an indication of the reality of post-devolution Wales, in which the government in Cardiff is quite at liberty, with the backing or indeed pressure of a majority in the Assembly, to pursue a different set of priorities to those across the border. Yes we do indeed have cheaper prescriptions here but I would point out that we also suffer significantly longer waiting lists than they do in England. In fact, an incredible 10% of the Welsh population, the equivalent of the city of Cardiff are currently on some kind of waiting list compared with just over 6% in England, a statistic that reveals a great deal about this Assembly Government's priorities. Swings and roundabouts indeed. Cllr Nick Ramsay (Raglan).
