Having had lenses replaced in both my eyes (one at Royal; Victoria Folkestone, the other at William Harvey) I have nothing but praise for the NHS.
My mother, living in Somerset, underwent a number of invasive procedures at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton during her final years (she was in her late eighties) and I was with her there when she died a couple of years ago. I can only say that all of her treatment, all NHS provided, was of the highest standard with total professionalism and care from all staff.
I can only compare this with St George's Tooting where my daughter was rushed to for an appendectomy which was chaotic and like something out of the third world, an awful cross between MASH and the Tower of Babel.
Here there was a complete lack of communication between staff and patients, the latter knowing little of what was happening to them or when it would happen or why.
My daughter, twenty something and University educated found the whole experience disturbing and even frightening.
I thank God that my mother, an occasionally confused octogenarian, did not have to experience such a shambles.
All this talk of privatising the NHS really is a load of bollocks to use the medical term.
Many of the 'underfunding' problems relate to the mad splurge on PFI initiatives used by Labour post 1997.
MPs on the Commons public accounts committee said that in many cases investors had made "eye-wateringly high" profits, with taxpayers trapped in expensive and inflexible contracts for which they are ultimately liable.
Yes, PFI was brought in by John Major and like a Credit Card can be used sensibly to 'buy now and pay later'.
Unfortunately our Socialist friends, always happy to spend others money, not only maxed out on the credit limit, but solved the problem by taking out even more metaphorical credit cards.
And while I'm here can anyone tell me exactly what the 'Tax' bit is in the Bedroom Tax?
"The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it".
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
