ALAN Simpson’s article ("Is it time to think the unthinkable on NHS?", The Herald, July 11) has come at an important time for the NHS in Scotland. We know that services are stretched, particularly in primary care. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Scotland’s recent From the Frontline report highlighted many of the issues facing GPs today, including falling numbers of full-time GPs, rising workload and time pressures coupled with a significant rise in the complexity of care. General practice is the foundation of the NHS and needs to be properly valued and supported – that’s why RCGP Scotland is calling, via its #RenewGP campaign, for 11 per cent of the Scottish NHS budget to be delivered directly to general practice.

The NHS is not sustainable in its current form. There is a clear need for a National Conversation about our NHS, and a key part of this would be taking the opportunity to engage the public to enable them to better understand current challenges. Having this conversation, which would include what can and cannot be realistically delivered by the NHS, needs to be led by the health professions engaged with the public, our patients. This would significantly help to achieve the aim of a sustainable NHS in Scotland. RCGP Scotland is keen to encourage engagement across the political spectrum in this conversation.

It is time for bold decisions to be made to deliver the NHS needed for the future. Delivering adequate funding to general practice would enable the Scottish Government’s own ambition to move healthcare away from hospitals and into Scotland’s communities.

Dr Alasdair Forbes, Deputy Chair (Policy), RCGP Scotland, Edinburgh EH2.

Climate levy fuel for thought

ONE thing caught my eye about the notice from Scottish Gas, which informed me that the Climate Change Levy on my electricity bill had gone up: the levy is higher for electricity than for gas.

For a single kilowatt hour of energy at the current rate, you pay a levy 0.339p for gas, but 0.847p for electricity. The difference is just over half a pence before you add VAT at 20 per cent. (Here the VAT is a tax on a tax.)

Now public policy is to encourage us to switch from using fossil fuels such as gas to using only electricity, but the Climate Change Levy is telling us that a unit of electrical energy causes more damage to the environment than a unit of energy from gas.

Now odd as that is, the really bizarre thing is that Brussels, Westminster and Holyrood all support a policy which will create massive fuel poverty. You see, it costs at least four times as much to produce a unit of electrical energy as it does to produce a unit of energy from gas, which means that it will cost four times as much to heat your home electrically as it does using gas. For many people that is a recipe for cold homes and ill health.

It is clearly time for a rethink of the policy of switching to expensive unreliable electrical energy from so-called renewable sources.

Otto Inglis, Edinburgh EH4.

Happy thoughts

I HOPE the happiness consultant for BPme enjoyed compiling the BP Feel Good Index ("Favourite ‘feelgood’ triggers unveiled", The Herald, July 12), a study involving 2000 adults and identifying the top 50 "feelgood" triggers which boost our wellbeing and mindset.

My own personal favourite is waking in the morning and finding that I still have a pulse.

R Russell Smith, Kilbirnie.