[Livia]

I've had the misfortune to experience the NHS quite a lot this year, with my mother's run of ill-health. It's a shambles. And for those who say the NHS is 24/7, you are sadly mistaken. Don't expect to see a doctor or get ANY kind of decision from a doctor over the weekend because it won't happen. There are plenty of doctors in casualty but don't expect one on the wards over the weekend unless it's a dire emergency, even in a stroke ward. No Physios or Occupational Therapists are available over the weekend so all progress stops for two days. And since my mother has been home she'll be visited by a district nurse in the morning to do one procedure and another in the afternoon to do something else. They waste money hand over fist. Someone needs to get hold of the NHS and teach them how to budget because right now it is run by what seems to be a bunch of happy amateurs and it's a very sad state of affairs for such a brilliant institution.

The junior doctors need to think about how they are perceived now and how else they can get their message across. At the start of this they had public backing, but the series of strikes coming up will, I predict, end that support.