Protesters marched in 2010 and 2013 over threat of A&E closure

• SIR Robert Naylor earned the moniker “Bob the Builder” for successfully remodelling the estate of University College London Hospitals Foundation Trust, of which he was CEO for 16 years.

The Naylor Review in April concluded that more than £2.7billion could be raised by the appropriate disposal of unused NHS land and buildings nationally, saving on the costs of maintenance and making available the development of affordable rental housing for NHS staff. Naylor envisaged extra Treasury funds to enhance local initiatives and private investment.

Sadly your headline (‘Keep private firm’s hands off hospital’, October 26) is the predictable reaction to another Whittington initiative to make better use of its under-used land and the many buildings it owns.

I cannot recall the so-called Defend Whittington Hospital Coalition ever argued against plans by the hospital, based on perceptions of what is good for its patients, its staff, the local community or the NHS at large.

Their viewpoint is politically doctrinaire and marked by hostility to a free market and the private sector to which they now add the virtue signalling of a moral high-ground.

The NHS is desperately in need of all the extra funding it can get. The Whittington Health proposals seem pragmatic and innovative with suitable commercial precautions. I am sure Bob the Builder would approve.

We have a first-class trust which needs our support and can do without being threatened by angry demonstrations.

BARRY HOFFBRAND
Retired Consultant Physician
Cholmeley Park, N6