Is the UK that much better? My mother-in-law broke her hip in France a few years back. She was picked up in minutes and operated on within four hours. She made a rapid recovery enjoying excellent free physio. Shortly afte she broke her other hip in the uk. After four or five days my sister-in-law realised that the hospital was working a triage based on age, that my mother-in-law was low prority and being left to die. My sister-in-law is a solicitor so noted conversations with hospital staff - specifiacally the age-related comments.
With my mother-in-laws condition steadily deteriorating I rang the hospital and read them the outline of a story I had written comparing the treatment of an elderly patient with a broken hip in the two countries. I read them a phone number and said I'd be ringing the number with the story unless I got confrimation my mother-in-law had received treatment within the day. Two hours later my wife got a most delightfully insulting phone call to tell me my mother-in-law was in the operating theatre.
It's quite possible that just givng the phone number of the most hated newspaper on this forum saved my mother-in-law's life and it certainly saved her from continued suffering.
So, treatment in the UK is based on who you are, how old you are and how persuasive your relatives are.
