IT hardly seems possible that with the campaign barely over to stop the main accident and emergency and many other hospital facilities at St Albans being transferred to Hemel Hempstead, it now seems likely that even more drastic cut-backs are to be made.

As I have travelled around our parish in the last ten years, if there has been one thing that has united people, whatever their political persuasion, it has been the importance and priority of our health care.

Most people believe the service offered has deteriorated during the years, with many, especially the elderly, finding it very difficult to make regular journeys to Hemel.

Of course, health authorities are limited by the cash available, but governments must realise the priority that most people want to give to a good, local hospital service.

Having said all that, assuming it is agreed that a person's make-up includes body, mind and spirit, I wonder if most of us pay as much attention to mind and spirit as we do to our bodies?

We get very concerned about food contamination these days, but what about the contamination of our minds?

These are fed a constant diet of a rather unwholesome fare through the TV and some newspapers. Do we complain about this as much as we do about the lack of hospital facilities?

Then there is the spiritual side of life. Where does God fit into our busy schedules? However much we take care of our physical bodies, we know for sure they are going to die, but the spiritual body lives on.

That being the case, it is surely worth a re-examination of our spiritual health to see if it is in a fit state for the next life.

If we were all properly prepared to meet our Maker and had the assurance of a future life in heaven, then even facing death would not be such a tragedy for us, would it? - This article by the Rev Peter Rich, vicar of St Luke's Church, Cell Barnes Lane, St Albans, is one of a series of personal viewpoints by members of Churches Together in St Albans.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.