The problem with choice
Sir: I agree with Charles Moore that the British are simply not healthier and better treated by the NHS than patients in neighbouring countries (The Spectator’s Notes, 12 January) but I wonder whether we all really want a choice of services.
A recent GP referral, instead of offering me an appointment (which I could have changed or cancelled if I so wished) sent me four A4 pages of instructions. They included a booking reference number, a password, warnings about legal action, a choice of four hospitals (three unknown and only one within reach), eight possible telephone contacts and several textphone and internet contacts.
The old-fashioned alternative of requesting a specific referral from one’s GP and responding to a proposed appointment seems a great deal more convenient, more economical and less confusing.
If this is ‘choice’, I should gladly forego it and save an awful lot of paper and administrative time.
Pauline Holroyd
West Winterslow, Wiltshire
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