I sometimes think the NHS is the state religion of Britain. Some people will go to any lengths to defend it, and criticism seems to cause an uncomfortableness in conversation; people can't quite believe you can even think that there is something not great about it. Envy of the world? I wonder why no-one's copied it then.

I quite agree. What gets me is the inevitable immediate reaction to any suggestion that it be got rid of: "What, you'd rather we be like America, where you're denied treatment if you're poor?" Every single time. Even leaving aside for the moment the unbelievably successful disinformation campaign that someone has run against the US's healthcare — and who in Britain hasn't met someone who knows someone whose friend was in an accident in America and was told by the ambulance driver that they wouldn't put the siren on unless they paid them fifty dollars? — even leaving that aside, why is everyone so convinced that the only two options are the NHS or the US? Have these people never heard of France? Austria? Singapore?

Even my occasional suggestion that the state should fund healthcare for those who couldn't otherwise afford it is invariablymet with "Oh, and have people dying in the streets outside hospitals because they've got no insurance, like in America?" It's a weird visceral Pavlovian thing, and, yes, I think it may have become Britain's new religion.

Sorry for the length of the following rant, but this has been under my skin for weeks and I thought you may be interested....

My wife was a big supporter of the NHS...until her mother and her uncle had to use it in the last few months.

My mother-in-law went in for a routine (but non-trivial) piece of keyhole surgery. The hospital was filthy, with the shower in particular almost unusable.

After surgery, she visited her GP to ask if her wound was infected. GP brushes her off, saying it was fine. Repeat this procedure three times until a nurse looks at it and confirms it is infected, due to the surgeon not closing the wound properly. Result: six weeks of pain, scarring and a complete distrust of any doctor.

My wife's uncle is suffering from terminal cancer. The local cancer specialist unit has for a long time had a large group of volunteers who will drive patients to/from hospital, take them shopping etc, all out of the goodness of their heart. Her uncle can' t drive and is very weak, so these volunteers have been a godsend. Until, that is, the NHS trust decided that these volunteers wouldn't get exempted from the parking fees at the hospital. Result: Volunteers don't want to pay parking fees five days a week (yes, for many it was effectively a full time job) and so aren't giving lifts any more, meaning that the hospital is paying for ambulances to provide patient transport instead.

And the patient transport is a shambles. Uncle went to Hospital A for his regular treatment. Was told that he needed a specialist test at Hospital B. But in order to get an ambulance to Hospital B he needed to be an 'in-patient' and admitted to Hospital A. No beds in Hospital A, so instead he is taken by ambulance to Hospital C in order to be formally admitted there. He then had to wait two hours at Hospital C until an ambulance was free to take him to his original destination, Hospital B. Five hours after he went to the first hospital he finally arrived for his test. Hospitals A, B and C are all within 20 minutes drive of each other, but forms must be filled.

NHS - envy of the world etc.


(Sorry - had to get that off my chest).

No need to apologise. That was actually quite a short rant compared to some of what we get round here.

I find that a lot of people support the NHS until they have to experience it themselves for something more than just seeing their GP. And why wouldn't they? We're raised in this country on a diet of being told how great the NHS is.

Your final example is very telling, as it puts the lie to the claim that the problem with the NHS is that it's underfunded. The appalling transport service is obviously a lot more expensive to run than a simple one that takes you from Hospital A to Hospital B. The problem is centralised bureaucratic control.

> Result: six weeks of pain, scarring and a complete distrust of any doctor.

The distrust is a major problem. After all the crap that my wife went through last year, we don't trust doctors any more, either. And once that distrust is established, it undermines all the other aspects of the service. "This won't hurt," "You'll be fine," "It's nothing serious," "We've caught it early," "The scan's clear," "It's a routine, low-risk procedure" — just think of the stress you go through if you don't believe doctors whenever they say any of these things.

Actually, the victims of car crashes DO have to pay for their hospital treatment. The bill goes to their insurers.

Fact trumps satire again.

Where's Peter Simple when you need him?

You're kidding. Blimey.