A quick side-of-the-bus calculation reveals that the £18bn annual cost of a national care service (How will Burnham’s national care service work – and how will it be funded?, 29 September) equates to about £350m per week. How fortunate it is that an option declared by Andy Burnham of rejoining the EU would result in increased trade and hence greater public taxation revenues of £770m per week. A chance for some joined-up thinking, perhaps?
Mike Cashman
Milton Keynes
• Since the early 1980s, GPs have recruited the teamwork of practice nurses to manage preventive healthcare (Three in four UK GPs ‘too busy to talk to their patients in depth’, 27 September). There are now 23,000 providing excellent care.
Elaine Fullard
Oxford
