WITH reference to Gary Mason's letter (Advertiser, November 16) people are already using the Alexandra Hospital.

There was one person on the ward I was in recently and a family living in Birmingham visited an elderly relative being treated there as getting to the Worcester hospital by public transport would have been impossible. There are already connections between the Alex and Birmingham but I doubt swapping trusts would really help the problem.

At least some of the acute hospitals trust's problems are of the Government's making, arising from its insane control freakery.

We've all heard of the red tape problems faced by industry due to excessive regulation and the woes of teachers drowning in paperwork. Anyone who thinks the NHS is exempt from this is living in cloud cuckoo land.

Central NHS employs untold numbers of staff to send out demands for unnecessary information from hospitals, while hospitals have to employ staff to provide it. If it's not produced, heads roll.

I would like to know how many staff the trust employs for this purpose. But other trusts are equally bedevilled by this so I doubt changing trusts would necessarily help the Alex.

Councillor ANTONIA PULSFORD

High Street

Feckenham