ONCE again I have to respond to the “blue coloured spectacle” reader – shall we call him or her reader X, as a name is never forthcoming – who made the most ridiculous statements in the Star (23/10/2014).

The statistics quoted in my previous letter were figures from the National Health Confederation.

But since X seems hard to convince, perhaps a second set of figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre will do the trick.

These were published this year in a left-leaning national newspaper and I quote: "In October 2009, the English NHS (excluding GPs and their staff) employed the full-time equivalent of 1.052 million people.

"Four years later, the health service employed 1.046 million, 0.5 per cent fewer.

"What has changed significantly is the mix of staff.

"The number of doctors employed by NHS trusts rose by 6.9 per cent over the four years to last October, to 105,056.

"Within this group, the number of consultants rose nearly twice as fast, up 13.2 per cent to 40,709.

"Numbers of qualified ambulance and technical staff rose slightly.

"Meanwhile, nursing numbers initially fell, leading to criticism from Labour leader Ed Miliband.

"But numbers have since recovered to 310,924, up 994 (0.3 per cent) over the four years, with clinical support staff following a similar pattern."

So the figures quoted by X, allegedly gleaned from the Royal College of Nursing, are clearly wrong – the coalition has increased the number of doctors, nurses and consultants since 2010, but has reduced the layers of bureaucracy in the NHS created by the last Labour government.

As for the A&E situation, true emergencies are dealt with swiftly and efficiently – and the situation there has been largely brought about by the over-generous contracts awarded by the Labour government to GPs in 2005, resulting in a poorer service and forcing people into A&E.

X contends that waiting times for operations can be up to 12 months – that is too simplistic. As I and many others can testify, if the operation is deemed to be urgent, it is dealt with quickly.

It is a pity that people like X do not take the time to research figures properly before committing pen to paper. I am all for freedom of speech and the right to express an opinion, but you have to wonder at the gullibility of some of the Labour supporters who are using the NHS to attack the coalition because they have nothing else to say.

Mike Perry