Sir - As mere lay people, we don't begin to understand the interstices of the bureaucratic issues surrounding the NHS these days. So all the stuff about under which authority the NOC might finally come to rest is beyond us.

However, there are two things that are clear to us.

1: If ultimately this is all about cost cutting (and we accept that there are legitimate arguments to be made for cost cuttings), then the powers that be should come clean, be honest and say so to the public, upfront, from the outset.

2: If that's not the case, and the aim is genuinely to sustain the services offered by the NOC, then it should not be beyond the powers that be to devise the appropriate bureaucratic arrangement so that the requisite funding remains available to the continued work of the NOC.

Raphael and Tamar Altman, Great Milton