The envy of the world !

Politicians of all parties know that an awful lot of people work in the health service. Those people vote. So the politicians tell them how wonderful they are... the phrase that comes to mind is 'The NHS is the envy of the world'. (The 2012 olympics opening ceremony comes to mind too, what the heck has the NHS got to do with the olympics, apart from providing Bradley Wiggins medication perhaps...?)
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The fact is that the NHS isn't that good. Viv's been in hospital since 27th Feb, everyone has known what's needed since I pushed her into A&E that day. The A&E nurse summed it up; 'she needs a shunt, doesn't she?'.
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It took the Lister six days to get her MRI scanned. The day after Addenbrooke's agreed she should be there; she did her moonlight flit on Tuesday 6th. Since then she had been 'NBM' (nil by mouth) because they were all expecting her to have an general anaesthetic for surgery pdq. She was on the list for an op yesterday; that didn't happen. She was the top of the list this morning; that didn't happen. She was then down for 6pm today. Guess what? That's right, that didn't happen. In all that time she hadn't eaten a thing (and her fluids had only been maintained by drips).
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Yes, emergencies happen. But (ex-project manager speaking) slippage like the above seems to indicate someone really doesn't have a plan.
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What's worse, she's been off her legs virtually all this time (I did help her with a little physio at the Lister). Muscles atrophy during periods of bed rest to the point that tehy'll take four times as long to build up again as the length of the bed rest. We're now looking at six weeks physio just to get Viv back to where she was physically the Tuesday before last. If she's not going to have surgery, can't they do something to keep her muscles active?
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This apparent lack of planning, lack of consideration for the whole person and their family, and lengthy, unpredictable periods without meals wouldn't happen, dare I say, if I was currently working in one of the roles I once had for US companies and happened to be based in the US. Yes, I'd get health insurance; that would pay for private healthcare, which, right now, would be much better than what Viv is suffering. So, envy of the world? You've got to be joking. I reckon most of the politicians (whatever their party) who say it is have BUPA cover anyway.
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A junior doctor 'was asked' to apologise to us about these delays. She couldn't say when Viv would get surgery; so, meanwhile, Viv's in an NHS bed that, we're told, there aren't enough of. I'm really hoping it's done tomorrow, I've had enough.