Kevin Pyne, of Lake Street, Dartmouth, writes: I am a big fan of Dartmouth Hospital, having had loved ones end their time in there. I have also needed stitching up and sorting out in the ­accident and emergency unit on more then one occasion. And believe me when I say that the hospital is brilliant and its staff kindly, truly funny, practical and, frankly, superb. Sadly, the NHS is full of ­fiddlers and twiddlers and overdressed empire builders who constantly have 'good ideas'. One idea that came along a few years ago was to put all the A&E nurses under the control of someone based in Newton Abbot, when the fact is that all of our nurses at the Dartmouth and Kingswear Cottage Hospital, to give it its full name, covered A&E as and when it was necessary and they were fantastic at it. In fact, they still could be. But as they are retiring they are now becoming bank nurses, as it suits them to work a little less for as much money, no doubt. I had hoped to die there one day, albeit a long time in the future, and we need to be carful that we don't lose it or the skills that its wonderful nursing staff have. We also need to keep our eye on what might happen to it, because after all it is ours, and not allow our loyal hard-­working team of local doctors a free hand to determine what we might need in the future, although they might well make a case for change that cannot be ignored. I took some pictures of the health centre in the Isles of Scillies recently just because I sensed that the local Dartside Hospital debate was going to suddenly hot up. And because, as someone who has been very ill, I feel that a view other then the back end of a ropy old industrial estate is directly conducive to getting better quickly, as is the blessing of being able to slip away with a bit of dignity and grace. I have spent long terms in other hospitals and have seen sick people treated callously and abysmally, but never here in Dartmouth, I'm proud to say. Closing any part of our superb hospital is not on and we need fight it, as it seems sadly we now need to fight everything tooth and nail that's happening around us, because it is a ­hospital for our towns that is run for us and our way of life, and we must not forget it nor procrastinate regarding its future. I can't imagine that our MP Sarah Wollaston won't be at the very forefront of protecting us in every way that is needed should anyone feel tempted to take away our A&E facilities permanently from where they are needed and have been needed for the whole time that we have had a hospital there on the banks of the Dart, which is both a border and a boundary, especially if the ferries are stopped at night or during the storms of winter.