1.4 million people can't be wrong

Another day, another report telling us that the government has wasted £43bn of taxpayers' money on the NHS.  This time the source is... the patients themselves!  And not just a few disgruntled ones either.  1.4 million of them were surveyed!

 The Picker Institute, a health research charity, found 48% of hospital patients were not as involved as they wanted to be in decisions about their care. The proportion had not changed since 2004 - despite increases in spending of £43bn. The proportion of patients saying they were given enough information about the side effects of medicines actually fell from 61% in 2004 to 58% in 2006.  The government spokesman was wheeled out by the Department for Health to comment.  He said "-We take the views of patients extremely seriously, and have put their needs at the centre of our health service reform. Only this week, the health minister Lord Darzi hosted a series of engagement events across the country as part of his NHS review-."  So, you badly invest £43bn of our money and then listen to what the patients want?  Haven't you got your processes back to front here?