Readers panel: Do we need a public debate about the limits of NHS care? 

At the NHS Providers annual conference in Birmingham in early November, NHS Improvement chief executive Jim Mackey said a public debate is needed to determine what the NHS can deliver given the current financial constraints, and that some forms of care may have to be ‘deprioritised’. Nursing Standard readers have their say

Beverley Ramdeen is a senior nursing lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire @BeverleyRamdeen

It’s about time we had a public debate on realistically matching NHS resources with expectations of providing timely care, such as treating A&E patients within four hours and performing non-urgent operations in hospital within 18 weeks. With the current strain on NHS resources, even the £8 billion promised by prime minister Theresa May between now and 2022 will not be enough to sustain the health service. The time has come for making tougher decisions and