The NHS provides many patients with a good and reliable service. But it is simply not responsive enough to their needs. Patients have to wait too long for treatment. Records get lost. Wards are not clean.
Standards are too variable.
Old-fashioned demarcations between staff, restricted opening and operating times, outdated systems, unnecessarily complex procedures and a lack of training all combine to create a culture where the convenience of the patient can come a poor second to the convenience of the system. This is not because staff are lazy or uncaring. Quite the reverse. NHS staff are the biggest asset the health service has. Overwhelmingly they do a brilliant job.