Is this treasured old master safe in the NHS’s hands?

Published: 10 June, 2011

• SIR Thomas Gainsborough RA (1727-1788) was one of the greatest of English 18th-century portrait painters. His works are valued in millions.Most of us could 

not conceive of finding that we owned a Gainsborough and if we did then we would do everything we could to preserve it and make the best of it. Not so Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, which was fortunate enough to discover one in a cupboard at St Luke’s Hospital (No sight of Old Master, May 27).  

The trust keeps it in a cupboard somewhere – it doesn’t seem sure where. 

By its own admission it has plenty of empty beds so this national treasure could be cosseted but, no, it shows a supreme lack of interest in it and its value to the trust and the nation.

If this is how it treats a great and valuable painting, how does it treat its patients?

E HOPE
Corsica Street
N5