I've just seen my friend Shane Frith's post on Facebook yesterday:
Andy Burnham is a liar! He just claimed on Sky that there are no NHS waiting lists. Having just been told by the "Book & Choose" people that I could do neither as there are no appointments for two months makes Burnham yet another lying Labour twat.
I'll be writing more about the bigger story in a few weeks, but on Monday my 36 weeks pregnant wife went to see the midwife at UCH. We were told we needed to book in for another midwife appointment this coming Monday, because for various medical reasons the baby and Mrs P need close monitoring. We wandered over to the booking area. And guess what? There are no appointments available for the next week. None. So we'll have to do without.
They'd call us the next day to try to fit us in, they said, because clearly my wife's pregnancy isn't going to be put on hold until they clear their backlog. Needless to say, no one called, and no one is fitting us in.
So we will receive no medical care at all from the NHS for these weeks of Mrs P's pregnancy, despite repeatedly being told how critical it is for her to be monitored.
We are fortunate to be able to stick two fingers up to the NHS, and pay privately for the medically essential monitoring. My anger is directed at those who think it is defensible to have a system where only those who can pay for necessary care are able to get it.