[Margaret Pilkington]

Neil.....Having worked in the NHS, I can tell you that a lot of money has been wasted in trying to meet governments ever changing targets. They have continually promised the electorate things that they had no idea how to provide.....so managers were given the task of deciding how the provision of these services would be accomplished......you would just get used to one demand and then another one would follow swiftly on its heels......so instead of managing services, managers were playing catch up to manage targets.
Patients are not better cared for because of this political meddling...in fact in some cases patients with clinical needs were...shall we say 'neglected' so that targets could be met...bunions and tonsils treated instead of heart ops (OK that is a bit of a stark contrast - but you get my drift)?