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ANALYSIS: Tony Delamothe How the NHS measures up BMJ 2008; 336: 1469-1471 [Full text]

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Is this a biased comparison?

Andrew C Barnes   (17 July 2008)

Is this a biased comparison? 17 July 2008
Andrew C Barnes, Civilian Medical Practitioner Germany Send response to journal: Re: Is this a biased comparison?	It might be typical for the English to vote themselves top of the world; they do the same with football. I am English-born, trained in London, MRCGP in London, then spent ten glorious years in Australia, one year in New Zealand, several months in the US, and now three years in Germany after two years back in the UK. Hospital and GP work. Incomparable. Unfortunately also no space here for a million small stories. Just one, for example, is that an out-patient ultrasound by a qualified doctor to exclude gallstones in Germany is next day and 30-40 Euros bill. In England my experience was a four months waiting list, with the only option of expediency being inpatient admission, which I was obliged to do on several occasions! Someone, please, needs to put an end to the failing pseudo-religious cult that is today's NHS? Otherwise I can never contemplate returning without risking my own personal mental health... Competing interests: None declared