Following Cate Devine's column, it would be horrendously amoral to base the NHS on costs alone ("Our NHS, the mark of a dignified nation", The Herald, February 9).
At the moment, I think the Scottish health service is striking the right balance. If we persevere with health education regarding illnesses we can prevent ourselves, we ought to be able to continue to focus hospital care on emergencies, diagnostic investigations and long-term treatments.
The idea, as is suggested in England, that the general public can choose which hospital they would prefer to attend automatically creates a two-tier system with the less well-off unable to make choices that incur travel, for example. Equality throughout is all-important and achievable.
Guilty though I may be of stereotyping, the Scots have a worldwide reputation for producing engineers and medical people. A Scottish nurse does not need more than a certificate of qualification to be the first choice for work abroad. Long may it continue.
Janet Cunningham,
1 Cedar Avenue, Stirling.
