A postcode lottery?

There's a lot of talk in the press at the moment about the UK National Health System (NHS). Is seems that President Barack Obama of the US wants to make health reforms and some of the US population is claiming that he wants to introduce and NHS-like health system. There have been extravagant suggestions about the success - or lack of it - of the NHS, with ridiculous statements being made; for example, that Stephen Hawking, renowned academic, would not have survived if he had depended on the NHS. That says a lot about the author of the claim, but nothing about the NHS. Stephen Hawking himself has announced that he is alive because of not in spite of the NHS!

I have complained frequently in this blog about the time it took to diagnose my cancer. I have also pointed out that my treatment, once the diagnosis was made, was swift and effective. I owe my life to the NHS - without it I would almost certainly not be blogging today. There may be a lot that could be improved, it may be true that treatment depends on your address, but for me and my family, any emergency treatment we've ever needed has been obtained from the NHS and has been of extremely high quality, regardless of where we lived, our age, our perceived usefulness to society, etc. I can think of a lot worse systems...