We were alarmed to read your article (Health panel accused of 'pre-determined outcome') in 14th February issue of The Guardian.

One has to ask the questions:  (a) Who appointed the members of the Better Services Better Value panel?  (b) How come they have the power to close the much needed Emergency Departments in our local Hospitals?  (c)  How can the closing of the A & E Departments alleviate problems? and (d) What right do the Panel have for not publishing the data?

It is very frightening for everyone especially the elderly and parents with young children when they realise that such a small minority of people can determine who lives or dies. 

This is virtually what it amounts to. Not one member of that Panel can have any idea what it is like to be faced with an emergency and suffer the anxiety of driving along busy roads to get to an A&E Department to find it so overcrowded that the waiting time is excruciatingly long. 

At the end of 2011 my husband had to have a very unusual plastic operation after having a large cancerous growth removed from his nose. 

We had to travel to St. George's Hospital on a daily basis to have the wound dressed.  The journey on a good day usually took three-quarters-of-an-hour and then we had the added worry as to whether or not we could get a space in the car park. 

It could take half-an-hour to find a space in the very overcrowded car park and we saw on more than one occasion people at fighting point over a parking space. One weekend we had to attend the A&E Department because my husband's wound would not stop bleeding. 

To our dismay there was standing room only. We wonder how a member of the BSBV panel would feel if they had to experience these conditions when having an horrendous facial disfigurement which was bleeding profusely.

Last year my husband suffered heart failure and had to attend St. Helier Hospital.  

Again the overcrowding and long waiting periods caused great distress to us both.  The nurses and doctors admitted that there was just not enough staff to contend with the numbers of people entering the hospital. 

Surely the closure of the A & E Departments at St. Helier and Epsom Hospitals will add to the already understaffed and overcrowded facilities at St. George's Hospital or any other hospitals.

Diane and Eric Brown
North Cheam