IN PRAISE OF THE NHS.

Irrespective of many complaints one hears regarding the British National Health Service, generally the author is served very well. This week, at an appointment with my private hearing aid supplier, it was pointed out to me that a plastic replaceable end piece was lodged fairly deeply in my ear. I knew that one went missing some weeks ago. The hearing wasn't impaired, but it was too deep to be extracted by the hearing adviser, who offered to run me around to Accident and Emergency. I decided that a call into my own Doctor's surgery was preferable, and so it was. As luck would have it, I was seen within minutes, the Doctor advised that it was a job for the ENT Department at our local hospital, The Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, which I visited this pm. for a 2 o'clock appointment. The removal took less than 3 minutes, following a short wait of 10 minutes, in total, less than a quarter of an hour.

The visit coincided with a need for a three monthly blood test for my haemochromatosis condition. Bearing in mind that this is an enormous teaching hospital, there was no queue at the phlebotomy department, and I was off the site by 14.20hrs.

JUST ACKNOWLEDGING AN EFFICIENT RESPONSE.