You get what you pay for?

One of my little chickens, Carmella, shown here in rather fetching apparel, has been ill for a week. She started off limping and then went 'off legs' yesterday, and couldn't stand. We rushed her to the vet - blue lights all the way - difficult to do a 45 minute journey fast with a chicken in a basket on your knees. (I realise now how wrong it was to put her in a basket - sounds like something you might get for lunch in Mile End).

The vet's surgery is everything you'd want in any health service provider. Clean and cheerful, professional staff, stacks of information, code of conduct, prices displayed, readily available medicines, clear prices and outline of services. The vet was polite, thorough and was neither dismissive or reduced to laughter by our unusual pet and ailment. She did a proper examination, asked questions and listened to the answers, and then gave advice and treatment. It cost £15.

OH said to me "This is better than anything you experience in the NHS". Well - you pay for it - so perhaps that's understandable. But such a shame to return to our beloved NHS, the beleaguered NHS and realise how far from any of this it will ever be.