If the NHS was in safe hands there would not be seven million people on the waiting list in England.
Nor would a 95-year-old war veteran spend 26 hours on an A&E trolley waiting for a bed.
Yet that was the ordeal of Stanley Solomons after he was admitted to hospital this weekend.
Mr Solomons is not an isolated case.
The latest figures from NHS England show 32,776 people had to wait 12 hours or more to be admitted to A&E in September – the highest since records began in August 2010.
This is no fault of dedicated NHS workers who strive to provide the best service they can under increasingly difficult circumstances.
The blame lies with a Tory Government whose austerity measures deprived health and social care services of the funds they need.
With Chancellor Jeremy Hunt poised to impose yet further public service cuts, this already dire situation is likely to get worse.
There will be more patients on trolleys, more delays to ambulances and more people like Mr Solomons unable to get the care they deserve.
Triple shock
Liz Truss will be betraying Britain’s elderly if she presses ahead with plans to axe the pension triple lock.
The Conservatives pledged at the last election to increase the state pension by whichever was highest: earnings, inflation or 2.5%.
Downing Street has admitted the Prime Minister could break this vow in the wake of the carnage caused by the mini-Budget.
Pensioners should not have to pay the price of Ms Truss’s economic sabotage.
One in five pensioners, more than two million people, already live in relative poverty.
A survey published today found one in seven over-65s will struggle to pay bills this winter.
If Ms Truss reneges on her promises she will condemn more to deprivation and misery.
Magic touch
Paul Daniels’ tricks, costumes and props are being put up for sale.
That’s a lot magic lovers will like.
