TODAY'S Front Page revelation that 15 gay men are being treated to a luxury break in Malvern to help them come to terms with their sexuality, is certain to raise a few eyebrows.

And the fact that the weekend at a top-quality rural retreat is being paid for by the NHS is likely to provoke outrage in some quarters.

As Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff eloquently puts it, it makes you wonder how the health service in Birmingham is able to pay for the jaunt when it's so stretched on cardiac surgery.

There is, of course, another side to the argument - one that revolves around the saying that prevention is better than cure.

The belief is that men who, in the words of the Birmingham Specialist Community NHS Trust, are "just beginning to accept their sexual identity" will take more risks and so be more susceptible to HIV.

As the bill for a lifetime's treatment for a HIV sufferer could top £180,000, the Trust thinks it's more cost effective to spend £3,000 on the "Out In The Open" course.

The 15, it hopes, will become "more confident about their sexuality".

On the surface it seems a plausible case, but look a little deeper and you wonder about the logic of it all.

The fight against HIV and AIDS is obviously important, but it's difficult to see how spending thousands on a junket in the glorious Worcestershire countryside is going to be of any greater benefit than a getting-to-know-you session in the heart of Birmingham.

Those patients who are fighting for treatment in the hard-pressed NHS will, we're sure, agree.