May I thank Sonia Sodha for her insightful piece (The only way to protect our NHS? Set up a National Care Service, 4 July). She offers an important starting point for a much wider conversation we need to have about Britain’s health. At present, the NHS is locked arm in arm with poverty. We will never get over the crises facing the service until we tackle the poverty that underlies the worsening health experienced by a growing section of British society.
This means taking on poverty capitalism and the consumerism that traps the poorest in the worst food options. If you have a zero-hours contract, earning £7 an hour and working extremely long shifts, you don’t have the time or the finances to cook nutritious food or get the exercise you need.
We can change this by realising the cost that poverty has on society as a whole, and then transitioning to a health system that focuses on prevention. This requires a societal mind shift, and a change that must begin by helping our young people understand why good health is important, and how they can avoid making the mistakes of earlier generations.
John Bird
House of Lords
• You are right to highlight the immense contribution volunteers make to our health service (Report, 4 July). Volunteers from St John Ambulance have been proud to play our role as the nation’s auxiliary ambulance service, to stand with the emergency services at national incidents – and through our young people’s programmes to have produced thousands of NHS professionals, some of whom still volunteer with us.
We will continue to volunteer for health in our communities, responding in moments of need.
Martin Houghton-Brown
Chief executive, St John Ambulance
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
