Hospital to charge for using a wheelchair

So Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth has thought up a new charge to inflict on patients.

They are going to charge them for using wheelchairs.   Yes, that’s right, you’ve read it right, they are going to charge patients who need a wheelchair.

A spokesman for the NHS Trust said that the idea was like paying for supermarket trolleys, to stop wheelchairs being left at various locations around the hospital.

The charge is £1, not much perhaps, but when you are an anxious, perhaps confused patient, finding that £1 might be a problem.

But regardless of the actual cost, surely there is a principle here.   Where does it end?  Next thing, need a thermometer to take the patient’s temperature, that’s 50p each time it’s used, please.   Having an operation, the surgeon will use a scalpel on you and that will be £5 please.

Getting like private medicine, isn’t it.