Another Winter Of Discontent

With the advent of winter the government has had to allocate an extra £ 700m extra for A&E, but the rest of the NHS system is under pressure as these recent figures show. '90,000 more patients waiting for an operation than a year ago . 62% day target for cancer treatment missed for last 6 months. 24% of patients say it's "not easy" to get through to GP by phone.' (Guardian, 14 November) Ever helpful the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt warned that there will be pressure to deal with an ageing population and suggested that a visit to the pharmacy rather than an hospital may be advisable! RD