I FAIL to understand why on earth any public body, particularly the NHS, should find itself remotely dependent upon a charity for its services (Citizen, June 15).

I refer to the withdrawal of MIND, the charity which helps those suffering from mental illness, and the comments from the chief executive of the Guild Community Trust, Mr Finlay Robertson.

He claims his main concern is the withdrawal of advocacy services, supplied by MIND.

Excuse me, but part of the duties of nurses, including psychiatric nurses, is to act as patient advocate.

At least the mentally ill are afforded the opportunity to have representation within the NHS, locally and nationally -- unlike the physically disabled.

Twenty years of Tory policy and privatisation have resulted in the physically disabled being dumped in privately-owned nursing and rest homes, without even the benefit of social workers to protect them from many of their so-called advocates. We have a Labour Government now, which purports to run a national health service, funded directly from government and not dependent on the services of some charity.

E Timoroksa, Deepdale