DOCTORS working in the NHS recently claimed that the days of free health care are coming to an abrupt end. Will this mean that no further National Insurance contributions are payable?

This would leave millions of people without income while ill from work, also many more millions without emergency, maternity and mental cover.

Regarding emergency cover, I suspect the ambulance service could go down the same private road as in America, i.e. finding a cyclist lying in the road (knocked off his cycle), the person making the telephone call pays for the call-out, followed by the A&E department checking that the injured cyclist (should he remain conscious) will pay for any treatment.

For all our people, many of who have paid National Insurance contributions and private sector medical cover in some cases, many will need major medical help at some point throughout their lives, and true to form if one New Labour promise was to be believed the NHS was going places under Tony Blair!

Looking forward to any health care in the future, I fail to see almost any NHS hospital surviving on the income from a handful of paying ex-NHS patients.

Although possibly at the end of the day with the existing private sector taking many of our trained staff, there will not be any remaining vacancies with the private hospitals.

So, to all you NHS staff, before your jobs go, should you now take to that medical lifeboat waiting to be lowered into that stormy sea created by the Tories and Labour, row off into a private sunset!

Whatever the uncertain future holds, most of us would not be here without you.

HUGH CLEVERLY, Fair Oak.