IT is good that David Chaytor continues to oppose the occupation of Iraq and all the waste of lives and money this war for oil and imperial power has brought.

The Pennine Acute Trust managers tell us they have to make cuts because of the financial deficit.

With the government spending £5 billion so far on Iraq and counting, the money is there.

Why then will David Chaytor not join us in opposing the closure of Ward 30? He says he has spoken to many NHS staff (though not the staff of Ward 30) but who is he listening to? What is spent in Iraq can and should be used to make the sick better.

How can anyone defend closing the only specialist rehabilitation ward in Bury? Where will these patients be treated? If it is in the community, is this necessarily cheaper? Or better? The treatment regime will be much more prolonged and perhaps far less effective.

Will it be possible, for example, to use specialist physio equipment in people's homes?

In the same month that the government has introduced age discrimination legislation, it is now proposed to start this savage round of cuts with the elderly as its main victims.

Isn't it barbaric to close it as winter approaches and the elderly need more support, not less? Is it political opportunism to say this? Haven't these points already been made in letters to the Bury Times by staff working on the ward? Are they rent-a-gobs'?

I suggest David Chaytor is simply echoing the soon-to-depart Tony Blair who has been finished off by the lies he and his government told us about Iraq and their awful consequences.

What then is to be done? This week, showing unprecedented unity, the NHS unions and professional associations are lobbying David Chaytor and other MPs in Westminster against the cuts and privatisation which Tony Blair is trying to push through the NHS.

Here in Bury, we also have to stand up for what we believe in.

Staff, the unions, the pensioners and members of the community will march to keep Ward 30 open on Saturday 18 November, in Bury town centre. For more information, ring 07905 32 7690.

GEOFF BROWN Bury Stop the War Coalition