MAYBE someone can explain to me why all the predicted disasters at Kidderminster Hospital haven't happened.

Where are the locked doors at the hospital? Where are the dead people piled up on the streets?

I, like a lot of others, broke a habit of a lifetime in supporting protest candidates such as Health Concern in the last election.

They said the proposal, put forward by David Lock, to look at reviewing surgery at the hospital beds was a "gimmick".

Now the report is welcomed as the big breakthrough.

The promise was given to fight for more services, but MP Richard Taylor refuses to support a consultant for the maternity unit, saying it's not viable.

And as for the debut by Dr Taylor on the Health Select Committee last week - I've never seen such a weak performance. So much for him shaking them all up in Westminster.

So finally, to add to my confusion, how do I weigh up the two stories on the same page in last week's Shuttle/Times and News? One saw Dr Taylor continuing his tired line of the impending disaster at Kidderminster Hospital, while the other news was that the minor injuries unit is obviously working very well and is popular with staff and patients - after I was led to believe it wouldn't be.

Maybe someone can lift the smoke and fog for me.

KEVIN WILEY

Malham Road

Stourport