LETTER: Better information on IVF

From Professor Robert Winston

Sir: So, unbelievably, yet another IVF unit has recently opened in London. I did not refer to my colleagues at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in my article ("NHS patients deserve the best", 6 October), but they make my point so eloquently (Letters, 11 October).

What utter foolishness for the hard-pressed NHS to further duplicate resources. This means extra salaries for at least two more embryologists, four nursing staff, more medical registrars, secretaries and counsellors, as well as paying the expenses for using several hundred square metres of space in central London. All this wastage when just a few miles away, with good public transport and excellent parking, there is a world-class unit with a less than five-month NHS waiting list and capacity to take any patients my colleagues care to send to it.

Your sincerely,

Robert Winston

Institute of Obstetrics and

Gynaecology

Hammersmith Hospital

London, W12

12 October