The darkness at the heart of the NHS

The MP Ann Clywd recently watched her husband die in hospital and was horrified at the lack of humanity offered by the nurses who "cared" for him. Since her tearful revelations were broadcast she has received hundreds of letters and emails from ordinary citizens chronicling similarly appalling examples of the new NHS in action.

This week I uncovered a tales from my own practice which elegantly illustrates just how the brave new NHS operates: A woman patient, never keen to attend the doctor's surgery at the best of times, came in to see our nurse. At 3 months following the delivery of her baby, our practice nurse struck while the iron was hot and performed a cervical smear, a procedure she had never had before. She knew was taking a chance, because the guidelines state that a patient must be 3 months, or 12 weeks, post delivery before a smear may be performed. As it happened the smear was performed at precisely 11 weeks and 5 days.

A letter promptly came back form the smear administrative body stating that the slide would not even be examined because it was taken within the prescribed time- by just 2 days.

What this means is that the hapless woman (who we might well never see again, certainly in a mood to have a repeat smear) has to have a second, uncomfortable, invasive and embarrassing procedure performed- all because no one was prepared to cut her (and us) even the slightest degree of slack. What happened to common sense and using one's discretion? Gone the way of simple humane caring I suggest. It is only a small case, I grant, but to me symptomatic of the faceless, cynical bureaucratic mindset that has pervaded the NHS in recent years