Fred Porges should not be surprised at the ongoing building taking place at Mount Vernon Hospital, in spite of the forecasted closure of the Cancer Centre ( 'Hospital work farce' Times, November 15).

This has all happened before when 'they' closed the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) which was in a modern building and in which, in the last few months of its 'life', they switched from the upstairs to the ground floor as they discovered that when the lift was out of order, they could not get their patients or the food trolleys upstairs.

When the A&E was closed, this was the end of the CCU, in spite of its excellent record, and a rehabilitation programme which was second to none, thanks to the dedication of their nursing staff.

The biggest duplicity, however, was in calling for public meetings to hear the views of local people.

There is no doubt by the vigorous response that local people were of one mind in wanting to keep their Cancer Unit and CCU.

However, as seems to be the case in modern democracy, this made no difference to the decisions of the planners which I, like many others, believe are made in advance and the so-called public opinion is merely a whitewash.

The same will happen with Harefield Hospital, another centre of excellence to which so many people all around the country owe a great debt of gratitude.

The future closure of this was announced just after the American tragedy and it does seem as if our National Health planners will not rest until they have redirected all our specialist units up into the mega-priced and gridlocked centre of London.

Margaret Clarke

Anglesmede Crescent

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