Dr

In recent days Lord Peter Mandelson, the UKs Business Secretary and former EU Commissioner has undergone surgery in the NHS and left hospital praising the staff and the NHS for his care.

This is a classic demonstration of how the NHS is not the equitable service that was envisaged when it was set up and still promoted by politicians today, who are trying to con the public in to believing that only the NHS can ensure that everyone has access to so-called world class healthcare.  I am prepared to bet that Lord Mandelson did not sit on any waiting list for months until an appointment was finally made for him to see his consultant, or indeed then sit on another waiting list to have a date set for his operation. I am also pretty sure that he didn’t have his operation postponed several times due to shortage of beds.

Professor Julian Le Grande, one of Tony Blair’s healthcare advisors, found that the professional and middle classes achieved 40% more NHS spending per illness episode than people further down the social scale.  This is bad enough, but I just wonder how much extra spending the political class manage to achieve!