REGARDING your article (LET, February 15) on the transfer of hospital services in Blackburn to one site, it was said that the scheme "will be the realisation of a dream for staff at the hospital."

I beg to differ. It may be a dream come true for the local population and the Trust Board (and why not?) But at what cost?

You reported only a few months ago that some £65 million would be required for the building, which a private consortium would rent back to the Health Trust over 30 years at a projected cost of some £240 million. That doesn't sound like good housekeeping to me!

As we all know, such funded developments are always underquoted - the Millennium Dome, the Channel Tunnel etc....What will be the new hospital's price in reality when the last bed has been delivered?

To cajole a consortium to bid to build the new extension, sweeteners have been placed into the deal whereby the contractor will not only make a nice profit (public money) out of the rental, but also take over a range of ancillary support services and 'sell' these back to the Health Trust for another slice of the profit-pie.

The back-up system already in place has Charter Marks and awards coming out of their earholes. When this new hospital comes into being, the infrastructure of the back-up service side of the hospital will be fragmented and lost under a pile of small, private sub-contractors all scrapping and undercutting each other for a small slice of the profit-pie.

Staff morale seems to be hitting rock-bottom. You asked a couple of weeks ago why are all the staff leaving. I hope the above puts it into context. Something about a sinking ship springs to mind.

Readers will probably remember the demise of Withnell, Bull Hill, Rough Lee, Springfield, Bramley Meade and, more recently, Park Lee hospitals. Why hasn't the money raised from their sale been put back in the form of the new hospital, owned by the Trust and wholly operated by it?

In some instances, whole families work for the Trust on the ancillary side and are proud to provide their services for what used to be a proud NHS. The future looks bleak.

Would any management or Trust Board member care to comment?

PETER MARINER, Greenhead Avenue, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.