Sir – You report that Oxford Health is required to slash £11m from its budgets this financial year.

This is bad news for patients because their needs for healthcare are likely to be compromised. It appears that a needs-based NHS is no longer a priority for the current government, although huge savings could be made if the internal market, private contracting and associated bureaucracy could be halted.

Is this swingeing penalty on our local NHS being imposed as part of the drive to run down services, so that our government can implement their unmandated privatisation agenda? The public needs to wake up to this possibility.

Marion Judd
West Hagbourne