SIR - Radio 4 ran a clip' from a 1934 broadcast by the then Secretary of State for Health Lord Astor.

He was claiming success for the Government's fight against tuberculosis by pointing out that in the year just ended, deaths from the disease had reached an all time low of just' 34,000 with a similar reductions in polio and diphtheria.

These comparisons are still used to measure healthcare in what Philip Bird (T&A, June 22) chooses to call Third World Countries.

But to suggest, as he does, that similar standards are imposed by Tony Blair despite the best efforts of the staff (a difficult concept I would have thought) is ridiculous.

I also find it odd that in the business-orientated world of the Conservative Party, ministers are criticised for failures in NHS healthcare delivery although the government's role is limited to placing the contracts and paying the bills.

Elsewhere in the competitive jungle, as he well knows, it is the suppliers who have responsibility for the quality of their goods and services and not the buyer.

An anomaly which Mr Bird might be able to explain.