Sir – Tom Burns rightly points out that those admitted to psychiatric wards today are too ill to benefit from strolls on Warneford Meadow. But it’s a shame he thinks the public need for green spaces is at odds with providing decent inpatient facilities and that, without the sale of land bought in 1918 (‘speculative’ only with hindsight), the NHS can’t fulfil its duties.

Perhaps he’s suggesting that psychiatric acute services are less well provisioned than services to which the public warms? This may be true but is misleading in terms of the meadow’s future and how the NHS is funded.

It is in the nature of medical practice to assume control of arguments on the basis of evidence which can be used very differently.

Many inpatients are suffering acute episodes of schizophrenia, the most misunderstood illness. Any one of us can get this but expect to be traumatised during its onset by the cruel ignorance of employers, educationalists and the general public.

It afflicts one in every 100 worldwide but, curiously, in less developed countries and more rural areas, the quality of life for sufferers is usually better (WHO sources).

Schizophrenia is certainly exacerbated by modern, urban life stresses. Green spaces and indeed, greener attitudes to life, play a part in ameliorating and protecting against the effects of stress.

So, we have a duty to guard against distress and illness by promoting healthier public environments and attitudes. The NHS must be supported in its preventative capacity, to reduce the load of acute admissions in the longer term.

Susan Heeks Oxford