Even high-risk, drop-dead-any-day patients like Shaun Halfpenny, have to wait months to get urgent heart treatment under Britain's fully socialized health care system:
ONE of Cumbria's best known headteachers is waiting for a heart bypass operation.
Shaun Halfpenny, headteacher of Cummersdale School, said: "Having been told by the doctor I could drop dead I'm not very happy about it but I just want it over and done with."
[...]
Mr Halfpenny is now on a cancellations list.
He said: "I've been told I'm a very high risk patient."
The teacher had to wait four months to see a heart specialist in the UK after suffering a heart attack in Canada while on a family holiday last August.
[...]
He said: "I'm very angry. They missed me off the list. I should have known this last September."
2 Feb 2006 @ 6:22am