Sir – The recent news that there is a proposal to chop the funding for the Oxfordshire Complex Needs Service is a deplorable attack on some of the most vulnerable people.

This service was set up to enable those with disordered personalities and complex needs to change their lives. This group is often perceived as being undeserving of public sympathy. The Complex Needs Service offers a chance for them to come to terms with the terrible experiences many of them have endured as young children and adults, and provides a way back for them to function adequately in society.

They come together in groups, supported by professional staff, where they challenge each other’s behaviour and attitudes. The therapy is self-directed, self-motivated and creates great hope for change, enabling most participants to go on to lead more ordered lives.

As a result they are less likely to use accident and emergency departments, to need long spells in hospital, to cause harm to others, or to create anti-social disturbance that may involve the police and ambulance service.

The proposed cuts to the service, which will close all four of the therapy centres in Oxfordshire, will mean that those most in need of support will lose it.

Crisis management, more expensive and less effective, will be their only option.

One banker’s annual bonus (on top of his more than adequate salary) would cover the cost of keeping this service open.

It is a sad indictment of our society and those responsible for funding such services, that ‘austerity’ protects the rich and punishes the most vulnerable.

Dr Jane Kay, Garsington