(Just in case the metaphor, "basket case", doesn't translate across the pond, over here it means someone or something that's in the last stages of decrepitude.)
But here's a real -- and tragic -- basket case, making the news headlines in England this morning. The body of a dead premature baby, James Fernandez, couldn't be found when the parents asked for it at the Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, Kent. It was later found in a basket at an industrial laundry after having been boiled with the dirty linen. Yet another example of the demoralisation of NHS staff over here. I know that some of you (at least Mike Gurstein), are proud of your health service in Canada. And, because I know nothing about it, I've never made a single comment about your health service in the several years I've been writing on FW. All I've done is to agree with Harry's recent comment that, because of the dire shortage of nurses, doctors and other health professionals in Canada that Sally drew our attention to, it seems to have some similarities with the National Helath Service in England. I only write about the NHS over here because it's an excellent, though sad, example, of what happens when a public service is led from the top by non-medical government officials and politicians who've appropriated the power and responsibility all the way down the line. The NHS is such a basket case that Tony Blair has given a hostage to fortune by saying that he wants to be judged at the next General Election by his success at reforming the hospitals. The rumours that are emanating from the press about the reforms that are coming do indeed suggest revolutionary changes. Even allowing hospitals to manage themselves! But it is doubtful that almost 50 years of arrogant and detailed control from London can be repaired all that quickly. (In the meantime, 25,000 patients needing operations are going to be sent to Greece [that is, besides France, Germany, etc] -- according to some press reports. If this is being seriously negotiated, this shows just how disastrous the NHS has been in this country and how desperate Blair is to reduce the waiting lists before the next Election.) Keith Hudson __________________________________________________________ �Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in order to discover if they have something to say.� John D. Barrow _________________________________________________ Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________
