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Withering on the NHS as a political football, particularly at election time.

You might have seen the letter written to The Guardian on April 7 by over 100 top doctors concerned about the state of the NHS. If you read this column regularly, you'll know that I would have loved to add my signature to theirs.

In 2010, the Conservatives promised that they would protect the NHS. In 2015, the doctors said: €Our verdict, as doctors working in and for the NHS, is that history will judge that this administration's record is characterised by broken promises, reductions in necessary funding, and destructive legislation, which leaves health services weaker, more fragmented, and less able to perform their vital role than at any time in the NHS's history.€ They continue: €We are left with little doubt that the current government's policies have undermined and weakened the NHS.€

The letter is an indictment €“ straight from the horse's mouth €“ of the coalition's wilful mismanagement of the NHS. What's staggering is Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's response.

They can see the dire position in which the NHS has been left

Advisors working for him have sent an email to doctors who may be Conservative supporters. The text of the email reads as follows: €There is a letter being put together saying that the NHS shouldn't be used as a political football during the election campaign. If you are willing in principle to support this, please reply to Jeremy Hunt's advisor.€

I agree that the NHS shouldn't be used as a political football €“ but in sending out this email, that's precisely what the Conservatives have tried to do. Their double-standards are breathtaking. The doctors' letter was organised by Dr Clare Gerada, former chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners (a person I have criticised roundly on several occasions), with no input from any political party. They are telling it as it is because they can see at first hand the dire position in which the NHS has been left after five years of broken promises and fragmentation.

The letter ends: €We invite voters to consider carefully how the NHS has fared over the last five years, and to use their vote to ensure that the NHS in England is reinstated.€ I couldn't have put it better myself and I hope all my readers did this when voting. The NHS is too important to have a repeat of the past five years.

Pen name of a practising independent community pharmacist.

Withering's views are not necessarily those of ICP