I WOULD like to thank Patrick Crowley, chief executive at York Teaching Hospital, which is part of the NHS Foundation Trust, for meeting myself and Ken Guest, PPC for York Central.

He shoulders a huge responsibility providing a wide range of health care. After a two-hour talk, we understood many of the problems facing such a massive organisation.

The good news was that the York trust is not saddled with the onerous Private Financial Initiatives set up by Gordon Brown.

One only has to acquaint oneself with the disastrous situation at Hinchingbrooke Hospital Trust to realise what an enviable position North Yorkshire is in.

Many headaches still exist in York such as a severe shortage of medical electricians, plumbers, and so forth.

With successive governments demanding budget cuts year on year, and with 70 per cent of the hospital’s budget being spent on personnel, it is obvious where those cuts are going to fall.

Paul Abbott, Ukip branch secretary, Prospective parliamentary candidate, York Outer.