I hate to say that we told you so...  but we told you so!!

For a long time now, local politicians have told the public who depend on both St Helier and Epsom that those two hospitals are safe. Then a few weeks ago, the St Helier chief executive Daniel Elkeles stated that the maternity, children's ward and A&E at St Helier would be safe for the next five years. And yet on the same day, a member of a local CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) couldn't confirm this when asked.

Then you had Boris Johnson coming down, followed by Nick Clegg to show support for the local Lib Dem MP. It was on that same day that the Deputy PM showed up that the story of the closures surfaced.

The NHS is being caved up, sold off, and privatised. It's fast heading towards an insurance-based US-style health service. Daniel Elkeles, before taking over at St Helier, oversaw two A&E closures in North West London, and now it appears that he's up to no good with this South London hospital. This is consistent with the privatisation agenda.

Campaigns like ours, who have no political ties, have been following events closely for some time. We don't do this for fun, but purely because we are all very concerned that our NHS as we know it will soon cease to be. I encourage your readers to contact us, or the nationwide campaign Keep Our NHS Public, to try and help to save it while we still can.

Colin Crilly

Keep Our St Helier Hospital (KOSHH)