Knee-op contrast

THIS is the tale of two replacement knee operations, one done by the NHS and the other by the German health service.

My procedure was rescheduled at the last minute because of last year’s flu epidemic and overloaded A&E. It was successfully carried out in May and I have nothing but praise for the medical staff, who were frustrated by the chaotic management support structure limiting their endeavours.

After three days, I was released to my empty home. It was judged that if friends and neighbours were not available, I could pay for my own care. The follow-up physiotherapy, available some weeks later, required a long taxi ride for a 20-minute session and an A4 sheet of exercises to try at home.

My German brother-in-law, requiring the same operation, saw a specialist on January 22. Despite their much more severe exposure to the Beast from the East, local floods and a high number of flu cases, his operation was carried out just six weeks later.

He has a single room, with an extra bed in case his wife wants to stay over. He will stay in hospital, with onsite physiotherapy, for seven days before moving to an adjacent convalescent home for three weeks of rehabilitation and physiotherapy.

This is not private treatment, it is the German equivalent of the NHS. Where did we go wrong?

TONY CLARK, Leicester.