I WAS most heartened today (July 27) to hear Alan Milburn, Secretary of State for Health, saying: "The needs of the patient must come first."

As this is from the horse's mouth as it were, can we now expect Beta Interferon to be available to all those MS sufferers whose consultants have already stated that they would benefit from this treatment? If not, will history not view him as a man who says much and delivers little?

I am the stepmother of a lovely woman in her early 40s, who is struggling to maintain some semblance of normality in her life, despite having MS. I know exactly who I will blame if she ends up in a wheelchair because she has not had access to treatment which everyone knows will alleviate her symptoms.

S M Jackson,

Crambeck Village,

Welburn, York.