I WRITE regarding the article (October 28) on the future of the Home Care service.

It seems to me that the originally proposed 'best value' experiment differs substantially to the now trickle transfer to private contractors.

While they are no doubt cheaper, I wonder how much this differential will be eroded with the forthcoming minimum wage, along with the cost of retaining management to assess and allocate those clients to these private companies, a cost no doubt incorporated in the calculation of council staff costing.

Further, it seems ironic that the arguments made for handing over this work are remarkably similar to those made for the school cleaning, which resulted in poor standards, as we are all aware.

This has now, of course, been taken back under council control. You would have thought the council should have learned a lesson.

Good quality care, peace of mind, security and a reliable staff are paramount to the elderly and infirm. They have paid their dues in the past and are not responsible for the current deficit in the budget.

It may seem more sensible to cut back services to the present generation, who are responsible for the deficit, instead of dumping extra funding on them.

A J Smalley,

Wetherby Road,

Acomb, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.