Admission of failure

You have to queue for hours to be admitted then queue again for expensive but disappointing machines. Its fabled costumed characters walk the floors, and in the evening there are scary processions and fireworks, but you’ve no idea how to get out. Visiting hospital is even worse than visiting Euro Disney. So why are hospital admissions increasing at 6% a year? Is this even important?

It is fundamentally important—because hospitals consume the vast majority of NHS spending, and so any increase starves other areas of the NHS. Also, an increase of a few percentage …