Having had to wait for orthopaedic surgery I feel I must take Councillor Randall to task (Letters, April 15).

Privatisation by stealth, he says. He really should be more concerned about people in pain awaiting operations than politics. From his letter many people will misunderstand and think this is to be a private unit. It's not, it's for NHS patients and will be free for us all to use.

We are being offered a new purpose-built centre with the latest equipment, shorter waiting times and fewer cancelled operations.

It is only a short trip from Brighton and, believe me, if you were in pain you would travel however far you needed to get to your surgery.

I believe only the surgery will take place at Haywards Heath. Outpatient appointments will be in Brighton.

I've heard the longest waiting list at the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH) is for orthopaedic surgery.

Once everything has moved to the new unit at Haywards Heath, beds at the RSCH will be freed and fewer operations will be cancelled. This will benefit us all.

Consultations usually take months and hardly anybody turns up to the meetings so it will just delay us getting a better service.

-JB Brown, Hove