LIKE Peter Evans (HAS, Feb 1) I owe my life to the care and skill of the cardiac care team at the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, and particularly the encouragement and support I received from everyone on Wards 31 and 32.

I had a heart attack on the very day that I retired from work in 2009 and in the space of three weeks my problems had been diagnosed, a bypass performed, and I was at home in my own bed.

This wonderful care was then followed up by marvellous planned support from district nurses in Bishop Auckland, cardiac support from Darlington Memorial Hospital and the staff at the Woodhouse Leisure Centre.

To paraphrase the late, lamented agony aunt, Claire Rayner, if any of the present Health Minister’s NHS reforms sabotage these services, when my time comes I’ll come back and clang my ghostly chains around his office.

NB. A vote of thanks is also due to The Northern Echo, which ran a highly effective campaign leading to improved standards of cardiac care in the region. The James Cook hospital is a beacon of care in which we can all take great pride.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland.