THERE is and will be always "serious problems" with NHS funding (The Herald, June 2). The problem is simply that the NHS is a bottomless pit and there will never be enough. New treatments are being discovered all the time which are very expensive.

People, quite rightly, want the best for themselves and their loved ones but, sadly, this cannot be funded from taxation alone. Either we continue with a second-rate service or we have a grown-up debate about how to fund a superior service that would benefit everyone. I fear no politician would dare to put their name to such a proposal as they would see it as political suicide.

Short-termism prevails, as ever, in Britain.

Dr Robert McGonigle, Health Centre, Station Road, Dumbarton. Today's headline story on difficulties being experienced by the Scottish Government in healthcare funding has a rather interesting element. The item appears to have been provoked by analysis done by the Labour Party, and I quote: "Calculations for the Scottish Labour Party show that if the formula had been implemented in full this financial year, Ayrshire and Arran would have received £15m less, Greater Glasgow and Clyde £35m less and Highland £19m less."

Later in the article, it points out: "The new formula was devised by a committee set up by the last Labour administration called NRAC (NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee)."

Oops. Own goal anyone?

We must be very thankful in this instance that we have a new Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, who assures us that "no board will receive less funding than it does at the moment".

Shouldn't that fact have been the headline?

David McEwan Hill, 1 Tom Nan Ragh, Dalinlongart, Argyll.