WITH reference to the article by Stephen Bailey, July 19, referring to chief executive of Warrington Hospital, Catherine Beardshaw's desire to steer staff away from whistle-blowing about problems on the wards, by urging them to use the proper channels.

She cannot understand why staff act in this manner, since there is a route to raise these matters through talking to their line management.

Part of the answer to this question lies in her statement: "Our staff are local community people, and so are our patients, and there is a much stronger alliance between the two." This was said in describing the stronger bond in Warrington than that in Leeds.

Could it be that the Warrington staff feel that their only hope to resolve matters is through its strong bond with fellow Warringtonians?

No-one can deny that there are problems in running the service as referred to by the chief executive, such as the strain of hitting targets amid staff cut backs, and high demands from people in need of treatment.

However, if solutions to these problems are to be found, they will not be found by battening down the hatches, in order to keep the problem in house and out of the public domain.

These matters of concern should be opened up to receive input from citizens with knowledge and experience of what needs to be delivered to those they represent.

Democratic involvement needs to be reintroduced into the NHS. This involvement was taken away in the late 1990s with the abolition of Community Health Councils.

The role of CHC was to inspect and report back on their finding in general and psychiatric hospitals, on all matters of patient care.

During these inspections lots of matters were brought to our attention by members of staff. Some quite openly, some by probing questions.

With reference to the whistle- blowing coming from Warrington Hospital, the reasons may well be that members of staff feel the best or even the only real way of notice being taken, without repercussions, is by blowing the whistle, standing back and seeing if anybody takes notice.

COUNCILLOR GEORGE WARBURTON Penketh