In reply to Brian Ledger (Just what have the Tories done to the NHS?, Letters April 17): NHS budgets have been increased year on year by both Conservative and Labour governments, with the Conservative government spending a record £140 billion last year, more than any Labour government has ever done.

The NHS is under pressure like never before for many reasons: people are living longer, massive strides forward in medical science mean that new treatments are now available to patients of all ages; plus there has been a population increase of over three million since 2010.

I realise that it’s very fashionable to for Labour politicians and their supporters to blame the ills of the NHS on the Conservative government.

But the facts tell a different story, which many don’t want to hear.

Keith Thornton,

De Grey Place,

Bishopthorpe, York

Diet is key to beating diabetes

In general, the training which doctors are given about diabetes ignores diet, and yet it is fair to say ‘we are what we eat’.

Twelve years ago, at the age of 62, I was in poor health, weighed 120kg and was diagnosed type 2 diabetic. Our GP (in Hull) told me that “once diabetic, always diabetic”. The diabetic nurse gave me the standard literature encouraging a carbohydrate-based diet. With my wife’s help I changed to a low carbohydrate/high fat diet. My weight is now 80kg and my current doctor tells me that my diabetes is in remission. I am in good health.

A remarkable doctor in Southport, Dr David Unwin, was awarded the 2016 NHS Innovator of the Year Award for the remarkable way in which he had saved his practice many thousands of pounds in medications which are no longer prescribed to his patients. A patient had come into his surgery, looking very well. She said: ‘I apologise, doctor for not taking your advice, I went on to the Internet’. Dr Unwin used this encounter to rethink the practice’s approach to their diabetic patients, and the message is being spread by the Public Health Collaboration.

If all GP practices take up this approach, it will take huge pressure off the NHS and it will free up substantial sums for the other aspects of their work.

Richard Benson,

St Joseph’s Court,

Tedder Road,York