I write to protest against the Government's decision not to commit the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, to future use under the NHS.

This lack of commitment will result in the closure of a hospital which has served the community for almost 100 years and the NHS for 54.

It is inconceivable this hospital should face closure when during the past ten years 30,000 NHS patients have been treated as inpatients and some 90,000 as outpatients.

The facilities there are far superior to many other NHS hospitals and, what is more important in the light of recent criticisms of many NHS hospitals, the standard of hygiene is unsurpassed.

We must not allow this to happen and I urge readers to join me in a protest against this misguided decision.

-Tom Mahoney, Dingemans Court, Steyning