Sinn Féin and health policy

Sir, – Sinn Féin plans to add €4.3 billion each year to the health budget which, Jack Horgan-Jones reports, “would take spending in the area towards €30 billion annually” (News, October 28th). The most charitable interpretation is that this is just another election gimmick. But if it is a serious proposal, it shows that Sinn Féin hasn’t been paying attention. The problem in our public health system is not lack of funding. Rather it is the gross mismanagement or non-management of the huge funding already provided by the hapless taxpayer. David Cullinane, Sinn Féin’s spokesman on health, says that he accepts that there has been increased investment in health. He could hardly do otherwise. Spending was €13.7 billion in 2014 and is budgeted to be €25.8 billion in 2025, an increase of €12.1 billion or 88 per cent in 11 years. Does Mr Cullinane seriously think that throwing another €4.3 billion on the fire is the solution to the enormous problems in our public health service? – Yours, etc,

PAT O’BRIEN,

Dublin 6.

A chara, – The election promise from Sinn Féin to make all prescription drugs free if they are in government will have a very obvious negative consequence. When patients are charged even a small fee for each item on a prescription list, it makes them think about what they really need. Not in the medical sense, but there will often be items that are not used on a daily basis, such as inhalers, where they already have stock at home.