A LIKELY shortfall in GP numbers has been foreseen for some time but the recent BMA survey reported by Dr Richard Vautrey (Letters April 16) confirms the risks to the health service when many GPs retire or resign.

Sadly, real problems of the NHS, including pressures on GPs, were largely ignored by the coalition government. They ignored the shortage of resources and growing needs across the NHS which pressurised staff at all levels as never before. No wonder so many want to leave, making matters even worse.

Instead the coalition preferred to press on with the Health and Social Care Act to make privatising the NHS easier (though of course they called it “opening up to market forces”, you can tell David Cameron’s former job was in public relations).

They brushed aside reasoned opposition from the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of General Practitioners among others.

But they did listen to lobbying by health companies, including many from America, seeking a growing slice of the NHS budget.

Most GPs strive to provide the quality service we deserve.

It can help reduce pressure on other parts of the Health Service. But ideological fixation by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has threatened their services as never before.

Can we really trust these politicians with the NHS when they have carried through measures that threaten its very being?

Roger Backhouse, Orchard Road, Upper Poppleton, York.