I write in response to Bill Gunn's letter,(Doctors have let us down, readers' times, January 21).

Both my children are junior doctors and neither they nor their friends and colleagues throughout the NHS in whatever job are striking for personal gain. For protection from potentially limitless hours of work yes, greed no.

The long term good of their patients and the survival of the NHS in its present form is the underlying reason for the current actions.

The public do not yet realise that the current raft of piecemeal privatisations and the steady undermining of the health service by this government and its wilful inability to come clean on either real statistics or actual financial figures (viz the inaccurately interpreted weekend mortality and stroke statistics and the effective real cut in the NHS budget this year due to the unfunded deficits around the country) will deeply harm the NHS.

If Bill really thinks that the overwhelming vote to take action was the result of being "manipulated by militants" he is sadly out of touch with the real world.

I suggest he pops into any hospital and discusses it with any health care professional he meets, he will receive broadly the same response as this letter.

Ian White

Eaton Bishop