No surprises here. The NHS has long been an utter disaster. What else would we expect of a 74-year-old state-run near-monopoly? Like all such organizations it’s run for the benefit of the employees, not those it’s supposed to care about.

The preferencing of women over men for medical school places which started in the 1970s has resulted in a GP service (more than 50% of GPs are women) which is predictably woeful, with female doctors in particular working part-time regardless of whether or not they have children.

The average GP salary of £100,000+ p.a. is far too high for a job with (effectively) guaranteed lifetime job security. The salary should be reduced significantly so that only those with a vocation enter the profession, and the preferencing of women for medical school places ended.

The average female medical school graduate will work half the hours that her average male colleague will. The bottom line? Two women have to be trained at considerable taxpayer expense to obtain the same work output as one man.