SIR – The NHS is increasingly becoming short of cash. Everyone knows it, and recently it was revealed that an incoming government in 2015 would have to set aside an increase in spending of £3 billion a year over the next five years, just to keep things running as they are at present.

Yet, a recent government attempt to save the NHS £1billion has been branded a “shambles” by the government’s own spending watchdog!

In a highly critical report, the National Audit Office (NAO) said that proposals to transfer nearly £2 billion of NHS funding to social care in a bid to reduce hospital admissions had been inadequately thought through.

It added that that the plans had been based on “optimism rather than evidence” and could have left the NHS with a massive black hole in its budget. The report stated: “There is limited evidence that integrated care is cost-effective in sustainably reducing unplanned hospital admissions.”

The report is embarrassing to the government as it attempts to control rising health costs, care costs, reduce burgeoning waiting-times for operations, and fill the gap in social care resulting from its own cuts to local council budgets.

David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose