LETTER : Drying out the less well off

ANNA BLUNDY'S "exclusive tour" of Farm Place ("Where the rich hang out to dry", 7 May) may have left readers wondering why the wealthy apparently have access to treatment for drug and alcohol dependence while the less well-off are denied it. Christine Kerr, Farm Place's treatment director, says of the prohibitive fees: "I think this treatment should be available to everyone who needs it. But as it isn't, I don't think that should mean it is available to nobody."

At Broadreach, we may not be able to offer the manor house idyll of Farm Place, but we can certainly offer some of the best available treatment in the country for this problem to virtually anyone, regardless of their bank balance. In the majority of cases, funding is available from local and/or health authorities. We may not be exclusive, but then again, we don't exclude.

Tony Hazzard

Broadreach

Plymouth, Devon