Dear Mr Johnson,Today we beseech you to come to the rescue of the people of Ipswich.Today we're urging you to bring a reality check and common sense to the finances of the NHS, both here in Suffolk and in the country at large.

Dear Mr Johnson,

Today we beseech you to come to the rescue of the people of Ipswich.

Today we're urging you to bring a reality check and common sense to the finances of the NHS, both here in Suffolk and in the country at large.

Recently you said it was time to bring stability to our health services - to let managers bring in a new era of hope after years of constant change and morale-sapping cutbacks.

We agree with you - so here's how you can bring your words to life, using Ipswich Hospital as an example of how you instantly can swing around the fortunes of health services across the country.

Ipswich has a fine hospital serving hundreds of thousands of people across Suffolk - and over the years it has served them very well.

However changes to health service funding, stop-start recruitment policies, and changes to the way the NHS is run has left it ravaged by cutbacks.

Dedicated specialist staff have been left worrying about whether they would loose their jobs, and redundancies have been a constant fear for everyone at the hospital.

Today we are calling on you to end this cycle of fear that lies at the heart of our hospital - and at other hospitals across the country.

The NHS nationally has a surplus. We appreciate that cannot all be used to pay off the historic debts of hospitals like that here in Ipswich - but an easing of the stranglehold imposed by the need to cut costs would be very welcome.

So please come and visit Ipswich Hospital. Talk to the doctors, the nurses, the administrators . . . and the patients.

Find out why hospitals like ours deserve the government's support - and come up with a scheme to support give it the support it needs.

One consultant told us recently: “If the problems of historic debt were lifted at Ipswich, the lights would start going on all around the hospital.”

It's time to turn on the lights, Mr Johnson.

Nigel Pickover,

Editor

The Evening Star