The challenges of navigating the NHS

The Guardian newspaper reported that more than two-thirds of respondents in a recent poll said they considered the establishment of the NHS to be Britain's greatest achievement [1], but nevertheless the institution is taken for granted by so many of us. Whilst there may be some short-comings, if we develop a serious health condition or have some form of major accident, then we know that we can rely on the emergency services and the NHS. However, over-stretched resources means that less urgent situations are not so well served, and waiting lists for services such as mental health thera...