I AM afraid Theresa May’s ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘nothing’s perfect’ are totally unacceptable responses to the present crisis in the NHS.

A crisis that lies on her doorstep.

It was a Conservative government, which she was a member of, that introduced the Health and Social Care Bill in 2012, initiated savings of £22 billion by 2022, limited NHS pay (a pay cut in real terms), introduced the new junior doctor’s contract, cancelled bursaries for trainee nurses (places are now unfilled), watched waiting times for operations rise, and failed to produce any proposals to address the social care problems of an ageing society. The list goes on.

The level of NHS funding, as a percentage of GDP, is at its lowest level in NHS history.

We are the sixth richest nation in the world yet we spend less than comparable countries - Germany, France, Japan. Surely health spending should be at the very minimum the OECD average.

As this happens, more and more of the NHS is privatised.

Last year, VirginHealth (who do not pay any UK tax) was awarded £1 billion worth of NHS care. This is when the Tories’ true agenda, which is to privatise the NHS, becomes apparent.

After all, it was the present Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who in 2005, wrote a pamphlet that called for NHS to be replaced by an insurance system.

The crisis in the NHS is not inevitable, it is a result of political decisions made by Theresa May and her government.

So if you want to ensure the NHS survives then start fighting for it, for example by writing to your MP.

Helen Webster, Main Street, Fulford, York