From NHS bureaucracy to traditions that need to go, our readers from across the county give their weekly take on the biggest issues impacting Kent in their letters to the editor...

Some letters in this section reference correspondence from last week which can be found here.

NHS needs to get rid of costly bureaucrats

Our politicians constantly refer to the NHS as “the envy of the world” but this has become a bad joke.

While the rapacious American system is certainly not one to imitate, there are many countries which now provide more effective, and yet fair, health services.

The real heroes of the NHS are those at the front line, the doctors and nurses, yet no matter how much money is poured into this bottomless pit the NHS is a succubus, draining enormous resources from the country, yet treating even less patients than hitherto.

The blame for this situation lies in the pernicious influence of that non profession HR, which has seized control of so many organisations, undermining their effectiveness, yet costing more and more.

'The blame for NHS problems lies in the pernicious influence of that non profession HR...'

During the first 30 years with my employer we had a personnel department, which dealt with the basic requirements of hiring staff and dealing with genuine problems, but for the last 10 years we were inflicted with an HR department, which interfered with every aspect of office life, producing endless policies that undermined efficiency, and poisoning relations between the workers and senior management, which had previously been good. Worse they, as is the case with all bureaucracies, spent vast sums on creating highly paid, yet useless positions.

This has generated enormous numbers of meaningless appointments such as ‘Diversity and Inclusion Leaders’ and ‘Expert in Lived Experience Practice’, all on salaries exceeding £100,000 per annum, while the numbers of those pointlessly employed to deal with “well being”, and “mindfulness” is nauseating.

If all these so-called jobs were abolished the money released in the NHS for spending on genuine posts, and the consequent prevention of non clinical staff making medical decisions, would be would be transformative.

Much of this is due to the politicians insisting on sending large numbers of non academic youngsters to universities, who, having run up huge debts, expect managerial positions to be available, the absence of same being replaced by the aforementioned non jobs in order to disguise the waste of resources involved.

HR is a product of the bureaucratic culture derived from that monster of bureaucracy, the EU, but now that we are free of the latter, we should use that freedom to demolish the whole HR, diversity, and inclusion industry, returning to a situation where employees are working for the organisation, not for the aims of useless sponges.

Throwing more money at the NHS to be used on yet more bureaucrats will never solve our problems.

Colin Bullen

Nurses earn less than suggested

I think your correspondent Sidney Anning needs to do a little more research.

After three years at university and five years’ experience, a nurse could earn £35k per annum; £7k of those earnings would be subject to 29% income tax to pay off the student uni grant, plus the usual NI deductions.

His idea of a gold-plated pension scheme: a nurse has to work 45 years to earn a full NHS pension and pays 9% of their “large” salary into the scheme.

Currently they work for an organisation under pressure with over 40,000 vacancies.

Next time he has to attend hospital he might try asking how many have a 50 inch TV.

He might also consider if he would prefer to have a doctor (in short supply) managing staff rotas and statistics in an office, or out on the wards caring for patients?

Managers manage, doctors treat. I would finally remind him that pensioners are to receive a full 10% inflation increase, not the 4.5% offered to nurses. His is a view not widely held thankfully.

Gordon Ford

Hope for better after bad year

The year 2022 has been one that can only be described as bleak.

How could we have imagined at the beginning of the year that by its end the country would see three premiers, including one that lasted only 44 days!

A war would break out in Europe because a despotic leader chose to invade a neighbouring country.

The UK, as indeed many other countries, would experience a sharp rise in energy costs due primarily to the conflict in Ukraine.

Inflation would run into double figures and we’d be plunged into a recession which, the Bank of England forecasts, will be the worst in 100 years.

A cost of living crisis would force many householders having to choose between heating and eating.

Food banks becoming overwhelmed by the surge in people who couldn’t afford the increase in prices at the super-market. The number of migrants crossing the channel in small boats, reaching the worrying figure of 40,000.

Our beloved Queen Elizabeth II would die at the age of 96 and cause the nation to mourn the loss of a glorious monarch.

Industrial action would be rife, with everyone from rail workers to postal workers joining the wave of unrest. The strikes bleeding into the Christmas period and showing no signs of a let-up.

And we’d see a record number of 7.1 million people waiting to receive hospital treatment.

It truly makes one think that next year matters can only improve and that we will receive some kind of respite from all we’ve been through in 2022.

Here’s hoping!

Michael Smith

A tough time for rural areas

With the summer months topping 40C and field fires breaking out with alarming regularity, the heat was certainly on farming and rural businesses in 2022.

But it was not the only place where the temperature was rising this year. At our Rural Business Conference, Country Land and Business Association (CLA) president Mark Tufnell laid bare how rural communities are running out of patience with the government. Uncertainty over the future of Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes is eroding confidence within the industry.

With environment secretary Dr Thérèse Coffey in attendance, Mark said that the delays to the rollout of the ELM scheme are unacceptable and compared the lack of clarity on payment rates to “buying something from the shop without knowing the price”. Early 2023 must provide some answers and we will continue to hold the government’s feet to fire.

But 2022 has not all been doom and gloom. The return of many of our wonderful agricultural and farming shows has been welcome and we particularly enjoyed promoting the Countryside Code to more than 100 families through games and activities at the South of England Show in June. Importantly, they provided us all with an opportunity reconnect with friends and colleagues after such a challenging time.

At the CLA, we used these events to meet with many MPs from our region to bang the drum on the matters of most importance to our members. At every opportunity we pressed home the importance of a profitable and sustainable farming industry. We raised issues with the planning system which is holding rural business back, called for a simpler tax regime and urged investment in skills and innovation.

Our work on tackling rural crime continued this year, with some notable developments. Tougher sentencing and improved powers for the courts to tackle hare coursing were added to the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This means there are now greater tools that authorities can use for tackling the issue, which will hopefully help to protect farmers and rural communities who are victims of this crime. The new powers do, of course, require offenders to be caught, which is why the CLA is frequently in contact with police forces to ensure the rural voice is heard on all aspects of crime.

With the recent snowfall providing an Arctic blast for our region to end the year, the heat really does need to be on. And it comes at an extortionate price. From rising energy prices, higher input and raw costs, through to labour shortages, among other things, rural businesses are being squeezed.

There will undoubtedly be more challenges to overcome in 2023 with increasing concerns of a potential recession. The CLA’s role in championing the rural economy and supporting rural businesses has never been so important.

Tim Bamford

Regional Director of CLA South East

Time to ditch some of our old traditions?

Santa Claus, decorated trees, festive cards, crackers and presents. Pantomimes, mince pies, turkey sandwiches, ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Elf’. These are Christmas traditions we should continue to cherish.

There are however others, that should now become the ‘ghosts of Christmas past’. Brussels sprouts, Christmas pudding, charades, Bing Crosby and a white Christmas, to name but a few. These should be catalogued, archived and then despatched to Room 101.

In this, the new Carolean age, what better time to create new traditions and mothball some old ones. In an increasingly secular and multicultural society, dare I suggest starting with a name change?

Gary Freestone