I honestly didn't expect that I should continue to work against the hospital and A&E departments closing down but you see people who have been reading the letters in the Hampshire Chronicle are infuriated at the supposed running down of especially the A&E department or indeed the hospital and have asked me not to stop. 

I do know that there have been signatures given in the region of, I believe, 23,000 to 25,000 people against the closure but there's an army of people out there who feel that whatever they do or whatever they say it will make no difference. 

The truth is, as I have said to them, do what I am doing, send to the Hampshire Chronicle your letters because together we stand. That being said, within the last 10 years rumours have been circulating about the closure of the hospital itself. So the reason that surgeons, good doctors, specialists don't come forward is because of the uncertainty of the future. 

So I suspect that those trusts that run the hospital have been running the services down and making Winchester hospital, which was by the way, a jewel in the crown, and I can speak from knowledge, it's been gradually run down disregarding the population explosion, the general movement programmes of massive buildings, housing. And there is speculation why you would get rid of a listed building that was once hailed as the best you could have . 

If Florence Nightingale believed that to be absolutely the best place to build the hospital, what has changed? I think what has changed is the management. They're willing to forget the immediate needs of the people of Winchester and district to be able to get to that hospital without worrying about how to get there. 

To tell you the truth, I feel so angry and surprised at the small-mindedness and disregard of the wishes of people. In a way I wouldn't mind standing outside Winchester hospital with a large plaque in support of keeping it all going. I can't do that on my own. 

Eileen Berry,
Priors Dean Road,
Harestock,
Winchester

Send letters by email to newsdesk@hampshirechronicle.co.uk or by post to Editor, Hampshire Chronicle, 5 Upper Brook Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8AL.

All letters and e-mails must include full names and addresses (anonymous letters will not be published), although these details may be withheld from publication, on request.

Letters of 300 words or less will be given priority, although all are subject to editing for reasons of clarity, space, or legal requirements. We reserve the right to edit letters.