I WAS outraged (as I suspect were many others) at the lead article on September 2, which revealed that York Hospital was facing fines of around £10 million for failing to meet government targets for dealing with emergency cases.

Such a draconian piece of legislation can only be seen for what it is: a ploy to ensure that the NHS fails spectacularly enough for the government to justify privatisation.

Raising targets whilst reducing funding seems to be the norm in most organisations these days, be they private or public. But to compound this by imposing huge punitive fines, which clearly constitute a further cut in resources, blatantly goes far beyond a desire to reduce inefficiency in the health service.

Perhaps the intention is to see the quality of service reduced to the level that we have come to expect from private contractors in the public services and open the way for the NHS to be picked-off by profit-making American corporations when the TTIP agreement between the EU and the USA is ratified.

Richard Carr, Station Road, Upper Poppleton, York.