PROPOSALS to change the structure of local health services are a matter of significant public concern.

We are in favour of the principle of cutting management costs and red tape in the National Health Service and redirecting resources to the front line.

However, there is ample evidence here in the North-East that having local primary care trusts, operating within the communities they serve, is producing positive results.

If there was one clear message from the recent regional government referendum in the North-East, it was that people cherish their contact with local public service providers.

They do not want larger, less responsive bodies which are less likely to understand their needs.

The reforms, ordered by the Government, have sparked an angry response from former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, MP for Darlington, where the primary care trust could be merged into a County Durham-wide body.

"Ludicrous, bungled and ill-thought through" are strong words indeed from Mr Milburn, and other passionate objections have been raised in other parts of the region.

Having worked in partnership with local primary care trusts successfully to promote public health initiatives through our Chance To Live campaign, The Northern Echo shares those concerns.

We have taken significant steps forward in recent years and we must not risk going backwards on something as critical as public health.

These are proposals which need to be examined very carefully indeed.