Sir, – The Royal Surrey County Hospital, Guildford. With direct access to the A3, a main arterial road, what a wonderful position for an emergency unit. An A&E department that has recently had a complete refurbishment and has been judged, only recently, as the second most efficient in the whole of the country, is earmarked for closure. I know that the health service is in turmoil, but this is ridiculous. It appears that we cannot afford to keep our hospitals open, but we seem to be willing to waste many many millions of pounds in local authority, county authority, regional authority and, of course, EU excesses and especially excessive administrative non-jobs, and failed computer systems. Unfortunately this list goes on and on, but there is never enough money for things like A&E. If, as forecast, many thousands of new homes are to be built in the south eastern region, surely we will need more health services, not less, is this penny pinching short sighted at the least, or incompetence? A Mr Morris, believed to be of Frimley Park, speaking in defence of the cut said: "If the Royal Surrey was not to have a full-blown A&E, I think 95 per cent of the population around the Royal Surrey would still be within 35 minutes of a main accident department," he continued. In response to claims that the closure could be the difference between life and death, Mr Morris replied: "Within the health service there's what's called the golden hour. If involved in an incident and you can get to hospital within an hour, your potential for a good outcome is much greater." Great, so 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive then 35 minutes to the nearest A&E and then the last 10 minutes of the golden hour is to load the patient and contend with the badly managed traffic system, that seems to be cutting it a little fine. The A&E department at Frimley Park is one of the busiest in Surrey, with approximately 90,000 attendances each year. The possibility of other hospitals or A&E departments in Surrey facing closure, will simply create an unacceptable level of pressure on already stretched local services, and will not benefit the quality of healthcare of those patients who will have to travel long distances to reach such services. Heaven help you if you have to go by public transport, this could be a whole day's project, Oh! And don't forget to take your lunch. Changes, such as these proposed closures, in the NHS are too often made by unelected bodies accountable only to the Health Secretary. Consultation is frequently an exercise in rubber-stamping a decision that has already been made. It is time the government made a statement regarding the financial crisis in many of our district general hospitals, or in the NHS as a whole, and take the time to listen to what communities want from their local NHS. We need to remove these unelected bodies and get our local MPs involved in the decision making process, we do not pay our MPs to get angry, become distressed or even fervent over a particular problem, we pay them to take action on our behalf. We do not want cuts in our health service. Remember, when this government came to power it stated: "The NHS is safe in our hands." Is this a case of serious butter fingers or was that statement just blatant lies? The Royal Surrey is an excellent community facility, and for it to be threatened in this way, just to balance the books, is a transgression against society. Please write to Patricia Hewitt the Health Secretary and tell her so. A protest meeting is to be held in Guildford High Street at noon on Saturday, October 21, Ann Milton MP has promised to attend. Paul Franklin, Furze Hill Lane, The Sands