THE NHS is in crisis and all the usual suspects are now shouting on about cuts, cuts and more cuts. But, I would suggest, the real problem is not the amount of money provided to the NHS but to what use that money is put. And it needs to be said, very loudly, that many British people are more than partly responsible for the financial difficulties that the NHS experiencing.

In recent weeks it has been reported that, in 2014 /2015, 462 people in Lancashire were admitted to hospital because of the use of illegal drugs. Last year across the UK, 26,000 young people aged between three and nine underwent dental surgery as a result of what they were eating and drinking. That's 500 every working week. In Bolton more than 15,000 people now have type 2 diabetes and this number is growing year on year, costing Bolton NHS more than £6.5m a year. Obesity is now a major problem for the NHS and will, in years to come, result in more type 2 diabetes, more amputations, more heart attacks and more unnecessary costs for the NHS. This is not the result of 'cuts'. It is down to the way that the British people choose to live their lives. These lifestyles are now beyond unaffordable.

In February I was at Leigh infirmary and read, on the notice board, that almost 900 people across the Wigan, Leigh and Wrightington NHS Trust had missed their appointments the previous month. This is shameful and it not down to 'cuts'.

We have all read about the consultant, in Lancashire, who received £375,000 in overtime payments last year. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Consider the facts that Kings College Hospital Foundation is paying two people £59,500 and £42,000 a month respectively. Recently it was reported that a boss of the failing Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust had resigned only to be given a new job within the same organisation with a salary of £190,000 per annum plus a £50,000 pension contribution. This is scandalous.

People might be surprised, if not shocked, to realise that prescribed paracetamol costs the NHS about £3.50 a time. The same amount can be purchased in Tesco's for about 60p. How many millions a year is this costing the NHS?

Our NHS is very much seen as a soft touch by people from overseas who seem to be able to get any treatment that they require, when the want it, with no questions asked. This must be stopped because it costs us millions every year.

Demand on the NHS is ever increasing because of uncontrolled immigration. This simply cannot go on. Politicians, of all parties, must work together to stop it. No one knows the cost of this but whatever the figure is it is unaffordable.

So, instead of complaining about 'cuts' within the NHS please think about these, and the many other issues that impact on the financing of it. And please treat the NHS with the respect that it deserves.

Richard Davies

The Asshawes

Heath Charnock