REGARDING Mr H Horne's remarks (Letters, September 9) under the heading "Nice little earner" - a heading which, incidentally, I believe gave unjustifiable credence to the letter - as chairman of Burnley Health Care NHS Trust, I am responsible for the performance of the board's non-executive directors.

The present non-executive board members have all been appointed since December, 1997, and we have worked hard to develop an effective team.

The time commitments to do this are very demanding and significantly in excess of those used by the author of the letter.

In a recent letter Frank Dobson stated: "The National Health Service relies heavily on the work of the non-executives who serve on its boards."

I believe Burnley Health Care Trust is fortunate in having the non-executive directors we have.

The writer of the letter, Mr Horne, has engaged in a campaign of criticising the Trust Board in general, and the non-executive members in particular, for a number of years.

People like Mr Horne should recognise that by this constant unjustified criticism, they are damaging the service they claim to care so much about.

Constructive criticism, please, but let's stop these childish personal attacks.

BRIAN W FOSTER, (chairman, Burnley Health Care NHS Trust), Burnley General Hospital, Casterton Avenue, Burnley.

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