I AM responding to the letter from Judith Higgs (Shuttle/Times and News, October 21), regarding the proposed visit by Health Secretary John Reid.

I feel her attitude is entirely wrong. We should now be looking to the future, not so much at the past.

Since downgrading, the hospital has come a long way. We have procedures now taking place that we never dreamed of in the past.

I know the Treatment Centre is not everyone's cup of tea, but it is a start. Remember, from acorns oak trees grow.

John Reid did not have anything to do with the downgrading of the hospital. It was Alan Milburn who rubber-stamped Worcestershire Health Authority. Thank goodness he and the health authority have now gone.

John Rostill, chief of the Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, is a different person from the obnoxious lot that made up Worcestershire Health Authority.

Compared with Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster is heaven.

JOHN NORWOOD

St Cecilia's Close, Kidderminster