TODAY'S announcement that a cancer ward at Evesham Community Hospital will remain open is not just a triumph for people power - it is also a resounding victory for common sense. Yes, we should certainly rejoice, but also heed the wise words of Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff, who warns that a state of battle readiness must be maintained in case a new threat emerges.

The five-bed Macmillan Unit was due - in the curious, heartless jargon so typical of this age - to be part of a "top slicing" exercise to help pay off national NHS debt. Possible delays caused by a consultation period that would reduce any savings have been cited as a reason why the closure measures were mothballed. That's as maybe. But the Worcester News cannot help subscribing to health scrutiny leader Malcolm Meikle's view that central government is becoming increasingly uneasy about the perceived drift in the NHS. He told our reporter that he believed there had been a change of direction at the top and the whole campaign against health cuts nationally had become, in his words, "too hot to handle". This newspaper's position remains unchanged. The National Health Service is far too important an institution to be left to the tender mercies of here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians. This is not a partisan view - our stance would remain the same regardless of who was in power. The fact remains that all of us, at some stage during our lives will require the NHS. The dubious logic of the marketplace has no role to play in meeting such needs.