Do you think black and Asian people have special hospitals with no waiting and the best surgeons in the land?I was up at the Princess Royal hospital yesterday lunchtime for a tiredness bug that I haven't been able to shake off for about a week now.
The A&E department was chock-a-block with about 40 people in front of me, all looking pretty ill. Now one thing immediately struck me as I grabbed a seat between a couple of girls in their twenties and an elderly sick man with his wife looking after him. There was not one black or Asian face waiting. Amazing that, isn't it? I guess they never get ill. Or is it that their practice gives them preferential treatment for new/foreign people moving to or living in Haywards Heath and the surrounding areas? I do not know but I am very curious of that. One of the girls near me had what sounded like whooping cough (caught from her young child she mentioned) - normally I would run a mile with something like that but as I was so tired, I asked her to give me a nod if I was asleep when my name was called. Fortunately I grabbed half an hour before triage but was awake when called. Then the never ending wait after for treatment. The service was excellent despite waiting nearly five hours in total. Not bad.
And the one thing that actually made me feel quite proud really - everybody was kind and considerate to each other - most were wearing a poppy (not that it's a big thing) and everyone was speaking the same language. It was like going back 25 years in time and it was bloody nice despite feeling absolutely dreadful.
No doubt I'll be attacked for my right-wing views and probably called a racist bellend but I imagine A&E departments up and down the country are in a similar state that if you're white, it's not alright.......