THE WHOLE health service public consultation is now being shown up for the sham that it is. No sooner do we receive assurance that Accident and Emergency facilities will remain at Macclesfield General than the entire mental health structure comes under threat.

If, as the Labour Government claim, funding of the NHS has actually doubled in the last seven years then why, in God's name, are they talking about closing facilities we've had for decades? Where's all the money gone?

I notice some very fancy £250k apartments being offered for sale on grounds where Parkside Hospital once stood. No shortage of funds there.

Either this all-time, record-high funding is a complete fabrication or there is management incompetence on a breathtaking scale. You can't claim to double funding then threaten to close basic services. Not if you want to retain any credibility.

So what has happened? Why are brothers Steve and Brent Wherry worried to death about the welfare of their schizophrenic brother? They've already been assured by Cheshire and Wirral NHS Partnership Trust that places will still be made available at Lime Walk House for 'appropriate cases'. Do they trust that assurance? No they damn well don't. Would you?

Given their track record to date I wouldn't trust Cheshire and Wirrral NHS Partnership Trust to tell the time.
