Sir - The Tories and New Labour between them opened the NHS up to market driven reforms leading to an expanding private sector take-over of many NHS services.

One is entitled to ask why when the NHS is the cheapest health service per head of population in the developed world and has the best outcomes.

The American health system, for example, costs twice as much per head as the NHS. These findings are borne out by surveys carried out by The Kings Fund, and The Commonwealth Fund which asks bluntly: Why the changes?

Private corporations want to get their hands on the £100bn per year spent by the NHS, and insurance companies want to see charging for services so that they can sell policies to people to cover such charges. In this, they are supported by politicians from all three main parties, though overwhelmingly by the Conservatives, for ideological reasons.

The NHS is now threatened existentially by the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated between the EU and the US which would allow corporations to sue the NHS if their profits were adversely affected by NHS policies. The Tories cannot be trusted to fight off this threat because it goes against their ideological grain.

Most people are currently unaware of the TTIP threatening the NHS. As awareness of the TTIP grows, I urge all who support our NHS to join the popular opposition to the TTIP, to inform themselves, to sign petitions and to write to their MPs.

Peter Nielsen

Worcester