Letter: Opposition to NHS reforms

Sir: Your readers may have got the impression that St Bartholomew's is the only hospital that is opposing the proposals of the Tomlinson Report. This is not so. The Charing Cross Hospital is another.

Virginia Bottomley, the Secretary of State for Health, knows from the letters of protest addressed to her and to Matthew Carrington, MP, that local residents want to keep the Charing Cross, from which so many have benefited. The strength of local feeling has been demonstrated by the large attendance at the vigils held outside the hospital and by the window stickers supporting the 'Save the Charing Cross' campaign.

We wish to emphasise that the accident and emergency department provides a service in this area that is fully stretched, and our traffic problems put the alternatives of the Hammersmith Hospital, Ealing General and/or the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital way outside the 10 minutes allowed for by Sir Bernard Tomlinson.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN KENSINGTON, JOHN FULHAM, FRANK LONGFORD, PATRICK O'CONNOR, JOHN STEPHENSON

London, W8

27 January