I have no means of deciding whose figures are right,indeed they may all be false, particularly as we were being told that 'productivity' was poor even when waiting times had fallen to an all-time low. The thing that really worries me is that we have swallowed the classic illusionist's trick of accepting square 1 and then believing that everything else we are shown must be real. Most con tricks depend on fooling the victim right at the start. Having spent a working life-time exclusively in the NHS I worry that the term 'productivity' is not the appropriate one to describe the beneficial effects of NHS work. It is the language of commerce and therefore suits those who want the NHS to be run by private enterprise. Perhaps we should admit that we need better ways to define the value of the NHS before we decide about value-for money.

Competing interests: None declared