Went to see the consultant last week. Finally got to see him 20 minutes or so after the appointment time. He apologised for the delay, before launching into an extended – and detailed – account of the inefficiencies which surround him. “The level of incompetence is astonishing. I’m going to use what they call ‘my kit’ for your procedure, because we have no disposable ones. They have run out. No-one saw them running out and ordered new ones.

When they introduced disposables, they wanted to get rid of my kit, but I insisted on keeping it. Now everyone uses it all the time, because as often as not it’s the only one we have. Sheer incompetence…” And more of the same. Much more.

I did think it quite ironic that my five minute procedure ended up taking 20 minutes or so because of the amount of time spent telling me how incompetent and inefficient everything round here was…