I see another sheltered housing building in York, the Barleyfields, is to be demolished to make way for another block of similar function (Plans for block of flats on Shipton Road gets go-ahead, April 8). I saw no mention this time, however, of the usual ‘not fit for use’ mantra.

My query is: the plan says there will be an extra 54 care flats in the new ‘assisted living’ scheme. But how many sheltered housing beds are we losing that are there now?

To me it doesn’t add up. Why demolish a building that looks OK?

Dave Matthewman,

Green Lane, Acomb

The NHS and debt - an alternative view

Mr Phythian’s political bias seems to blind him from the truth when it comes to the NHS (It was the Lib Dems who helped run down the NHS, Letters, March 8).

Claims that the cancellation of debt does not put money back into the coffers of cash-strapped trusts just don’t stack up with reality - York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has paid over £1.6 million in interest on outstanding debt in the last five years. Money that could have funded 10 extra nurses.

It is simply not true that NHS deficits began in 2012.

Well before the Health and Social Care Act, it was necessary for the then Strategic Health Authority to write off historic debts of around £20m built up by the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust.

Nationally, the number of NHS bodies in deficit rose from around seven per cent in 2001/2 to over 30 per cent in 2005/6.

Despite claims of ‘austerity economics’ healthcare spending was actually increased over the life of the Coalition and remained above seven per cent of GDP throughout.

The one point I would agree with him on is the crippling effect that Labour’s PFI policy had on the NHS.

Described as akin to taking a mortgage from a payday loan shark, estimates show the NHS has been left with a bill of £80bn from an investment of just £13bn.

If Mr Phythian wants to try and score political points, at a time when everyone should be focused on working together, he could at least get his facts right.

Cllr Andrew Hollyer

Lib Dem, Haxby & Wigginton Ward

Wyre Court, Haxby

Experts aren’t the best defence against virus

Christian Vassie’s latest take on experts... oh dear (Why it’s the experts who will save us, March 4).

Despite all the great intentions and efforts of medical experts - for which most deserve no criticism - while they have indeed warned of viral pandemics, crucially they haven’t found any cures. Right now your best defence against Covid-19 is not the help of experts, it’s your own immune system and common sense.

Experts advise rightly that we socially distance ourselves, not because they have all the answers, but because they’re wise enough to realise that they don’t. The day experts think they know it all is the day science becomes a religion.

Which experts advised we should all turn to diesel cars because they produce less carbon dioxide, failing to assess what the far more immediate and real damage of nitrous oxide compounds, well known at the time to be toxic, would be?

Will the benefits of a warmer climate in combatting viral infections be fairly added to the scales of the climate change debate? We should always challenge experts as in the words of the humble genius Richard Feynman: “Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts”.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York