The NHS usually comes in for such flak that I must redress the balance a little from my own experience.

I recently spent more than two weeks in the cardiac ward in Brighton's Royal Sussex County Hospital. True, I was an emergency patient and also had an infectious illness which meant I had a room to myself for part of the time but I am convinced I could not have received better treatment had I been the Queen Mother in the London Clinic.

I shall not forget the care I got from the nursing and medical staff - their dedication, cheerfulness and quiet efficiency - nor the ward team spirit, which included cleaning and meals staff. It was the NHS at its best.

Government promises of more money going into the NHS are good news indeed. But we are told it will cost £10 billion annually to bring the service up to the European average. Where is this to come from? Higher taxes?

A better solution for everyone's health would be to scrap our unusable nuclear weapons. The cost to the taxpayer of maintaining these, which roam the seas in submarines, is about £11 billion each year - just the sum needed. And with money like that, everyone could enjoy the kind of services I have just experienced.

-Eileen Daffern, Eastern Road, Brighton