Britain's Prescription For Health Care: Take A Seat

Britain's Prescription for Health Care: Take a Seat

By SARAH LYALL

Every patient in Britain knows about the notorious National Health Service waiting list, which tells how many people are waiting for hospital treatment for anything from varicose vein removal to hip replacement surgery. Never a short list, it currently boasts 1.12 million sick and generally tired members. Waiting has always been part and parcel of the British health service, a price patients pay -- sometimes willingly, sometimes grudgingly -- for free medical treatment. But there is another list, one that the Government, which has vowed to improve health care, does not officially acknowledge and that patients are just learning about. This is the underground waiting list -- the waiting list to get on the waiting list -- and it appears to be rising precipitously, even as the Labor Government proudly announces that the official list itself is shrinking.