I THOUGHT the recent law compelling the old and handicapped to pay for what little bit of care they get out of their meagre means was bad enough, but the latest act of the health authority must take top award for bare-faced cheek.

We are now told that incontinence items for the old and handicapped are to be cut - so they can be changed just four times daily.

Even by the standards of the snout-in-the-trough brigade, this is pretty low. No doubt it is to save money - and one does not need to be Brain of Britain to know where that will go.

Taking this bit of money off these people is one thing, but telling them when they can do their bodily functions is quite another.

JOHN MURDOCH, Barclay Avenue, Burnley.

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