My aunt's hospital admission day has arrived, but will she go?
This has nothing to do with her own ambivalence but rather the hospital's system for admission of patients (or not) the day they are programmed to go. We will have to wait until this afternoon before knowing, because it is only then that they will telephone to confirm they have a bed for her.
I'm afraid that this is the third time she has been booked to go in for the same tests. The other two admission dates were cancelled at the last minute. I am not even sure that a life-threatening condition would change the fact that no bed means no patient.
The National Health Service is, in principle, a great system allowing everyone in Britain free access to doctors and treatment for any ailment or dysfunction. It was abused for many years by foreigners coming to Britain to receive free treatment/operations for something that would have cost them dearly in their own country. Now the service has clamped down on who has access to any part of it with signs posted in hospitals stating the countries' citizens who will be given zero tolerance when applying for care of any sort.
That may have helped to economise on the budget accorded to the service but it doesn't seem to have helped towards buying more beds or employing more capable staff.
My aunt's condition is not going to improve and can only get worse. It may be that if they wait long enough before finding a bed for her, she'll be past needing it...