Regarding the article, 'Doctor warns: we need to keep 'vital' service' published in the Barnet and Potters Bar Times this week.

As previously reported in your paper, this proposal (currently the subject of public consultation) has been developed using sound information based on the number of patients attending the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at Edgware Community Hospital between the hours of 10pm and 7am.

In response to the concerns aired in your paper that the figures used are not correct, we have again checked our data. As a result I should like to reassure your readers that the numbers originally quoted are correct, ie. that on average only ten patients are seen each night.

Also, it is not our experience that staff in the department are under pressure throughout the night.

We are, however, aware that on occasion a 'backlog' can accumulate from the daytime activity in the UTC. In order to overcome this problem we are proposing to invest £20,000 of the proposed savings into the day-time service.

This should improve waiting times in the department throughout the day, thereby reducing the 'backlog' in question.

In the weeks ahead, we shall be talking with relevant clinicians to obtain their views on this idea.

If any of your readers have not yet obtained a copy of the consultation document, they should contact Barnet Primary Care Trust on 020 8201 4727.

Averil Dongworth

Chief executive,

Barnet Primary Care Trust

December 31, 2001 14:51