Oxfordshire County Council is in the process of sacking the last of its 400 staff who have provided care for vulnerable elderly and disabled people.

These staff will be sadly missed, particularly by those for whom they have made lives in their own homes possible.

I want to publicly thank these workers for the outstanding work they have done for the people of Oxfordshire. To be a good care worker requires extraordinary sensitivity, skill, and compassion.

The excuse for their dismissal is that they cannot ‘compete’, in terms of price, with private care agencies, who are not required to pay pensions, sick pay, or travel time between clients.

Of course, because of this, it is not at all certain that the private care agencies will be able to recruit staff should the present financial crisis ever be resolved.

If the Government’s Health/NHS bill is passed and large chunks of the NHS are privatised, countless more dedicated health workers will be forced out.

All this is happening, not because the country cannot afford decent care and health services, but in order to maintain the increase in the share of the national income going to the richest one per cent of the population.

LARRY SANDERS, Oxfordshire County Council, Green Group, Bedford Street, Oxford