An NHS trust has spent more than £12,000 on private physiotherapy treatment for hospital staff because its own waiting times are too long.

NHS trust spends £12,000 treating staff privately
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The money was used to bring in physiotherapists to help workers recover from muscular-skeletal injuries at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

Bosses said it prevented them from leapfrogging NHS patients and enabled them to return to work more quickly.

However, the private treatment, which amounted to £12,116 for 271 appointments over the past year, was described by critics as "shocking".

Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "Their staff should have to wait like everybody else.

"Perhaps if they experienced it as their customers - that is the taxpayer - experienced it, they might be a little keener to improve their waiting times.""

Yes. And NHS medics tend not to use the NHS either - see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article2042389.ece or a host of other articles on the internet.

There's no question about it: health care in this country is a two tier system - 1) a decent system and 2) the sub-standard NHS system.