I write with respect to the major problem with Defence Medical services and the news that The House of Commons Select Committee on Defence now finally recognise this major problem and plan to carry out a review leading to a Select Committee Report.

  I believe our MP for Gosport, Mr.Viggers has submitted a letter to you concerning this appalling state of affairs, and whilst I might not personally agree with all of his comments & actions, I feel he is 100% right with his comments that The Royal Hospital Haslar and the adjacent Fort Blockhouse must be retained and used and military medical care be based there.

  It is common knowledge everywhere and especially here in Gosport, where we have had a large number of Military establishments for many years, that ALL service personnel wish to receive medical treatment in their own dedicated service hospital!!

  This has been the case with Haslar for over 250 years as this has treated military personnel with excellent care and attention, both in secure and safe surroundings with state of the art equipment and dedicated, MRSA free wards.

  The many, many well documented problems that occur at Selly Oak ( injured troops picking up infections, receiving below standard care, facing racial tension and confrontation in the same hospital ) would just not happen at Haslar.

  Haslar (located in Gosport on the South Coast) does not have any problems with racial tension, is based in a lovely part of the country with both ample accommodation nearby for service personnel and their families, plus the very secure grounds at Haslar offer an excellent setting for rest and recuperation.

  You cannot escape the fact that many, many Service Medical staff are leaving the service and it is obvious that a large reason for this (I have spoken to many so I know this to be true) is that they (and their families) do not want to be located in Birmingham. They want to live and work safely in an area that their children can grow up safely in—we know that Birmingham can NEVER offer this !!!

  The Birmingham experiment and trying to believe that racial problems do not exist has clearly failed and will never succeed and I implore you to please come and look at Haslar and what it has to offer both now and for the future and talk to the excellent Save Haslar Taskforce about this amazing hospital.

  Surely you will be amazed that this current state of affairs has ever been allowed to happen, you have what all Service personnel want at Haslar NOW. How can some politician/s who have never served or received treatment in a NHS hospital be allowed to force such sub standard care on people who are fighting and dying for this country?

  I implore you all, please, please come and look at what you already have at Haslar! It does not require huge investment and building programs and offers what people who fight and die for our country deserve, and should not have it's future decided by some faceless MoD accountant and biased group of MP's trying to appease their local constituents.

  You have a chance to right a major wrong here as to carry on without using Haslar will not only ensure the exodus of Defence military staff, but will result in major problems and deaths in the future.

22 October 2007