THE political war has started well in advance of next year's general election and the National Health Service in Wales is its latest battleground.

No-one should be in any doubt that the Daily Mail's 'investigation' this week is motivated by politics rather than some deep concern for the state of the Welsh NHS.

But nor should we think the NHS should somehow be above party politics.

To suggest the health service should not be used as a political football is laudable but naive.

The NHS has been a political football since its inception.

The Daily Mail's 'facts' are fuelled by politics, as are the responses from both the Welsh and UK governments.

Does the NHS in Wales face signifcant problems? Of course it does.

But the NHS in England is far from perfect.

Let us not forget the biggest health scandal of this century happened in Stafford in the heart of England rather than in one of the devolved nations.

There are huge differences in the standard of care provided across the English regions.

What we would like to see politicians of all hues concentrating on is the delivery of health care that is of the same high standard across all parts of the UK.

It is, after all, supposed to be the National Health Service.