MANY sources from the BBC to The Northern Echo advise us that the current problems of the NHS are due to an ageing population, under funding and a shortage of trained staff.

Why are we ignoring the fact that since the year 2000, the population of the UK has grown from 59m to 65.6m?

If we are allowing mass immigration on these levels we should be building new hospitals to cope with this influx.

At current levels of approximately 250,000 per annum – ie the population of Newcastle – should we be building an RVI and a Freeman every year?

The answer is yes but as we all know the UK does not have the money to do this.

The strain will continue until we either stop the mass immigration or we divert the foreign aid budget to arrest the steady decline of our once proud National Health Service.

Stephen Renaut-Evans, Willington