EVERY THURSDAY

the stress and confusion were clearly adding to her anxiety.

This kind of thing rings alarm bells. There are far too many assumptions being made by NHS managers who appear to have little understanding of how the service works.

I’m not just talking about patient management and monitoring, but acute issues such as problems and emergencies.

I’ll give you another example. My 13-year-old daughter, Lizzie, has been attending the orthodontics department at our local hospital for almost two years now as her overcrowded teeth need intervention.

If you’ve ever had anything to do with a dental brace, you’ll know that they are temperamental things, given to springing apart and causing discomfort. Thankfully, the nurse gave us her direct line and told us to call her personally if we had a problem and she would make arrangements for us to pop in. We appreciate this very much. I can only imagine a Skype

Health is not a series of tick boxes. It’s complex and by its nature, very personal.

consultation between Lizzie and her orthodontics doctor.

I know that these latest proposals aren’t suggesting that hospital consultants will routinely advise their patients over the internet, but what concerns me is that this is the way that things are going.

It’s pertinent to point out here that Lizzie also needs a minor day-case operation on one particular stubborn tooth. She has been waiting for a date since last summer. Her doctor tells us that there at least 120 people on the waiting list before her.

Perhaps the new NHS 10year plan should concentrate on bringing down such waiting lists instead of trying to distract us with whizz-bang innovations that nobody except highly-paid IT consultants really want.

Meanwhile, there is simply no substitute for personalised and hands-on care. After all, if our dog or cat falls ill, we take it the vet where it is dealt with face to face. I know that this means paying for the privilege, but as taxpayers, the least we might expect from the NHS is to be treated with the same respect.