Two news stories concerning the NHS caught the eye last week.

The first was the proposal that ex-smokers should receive e-cigarettes on our National Health Service to help them overcome their cigarette addiction. In other words the already overburdened British taxpayer (that’s you and me) is being asked to subsidise people who voluntarily started smoking and now want to give it up.

This is wrong on a number of levels, not least the fact that a smoker having given up his 20 cigarettes a day (at a cost of £7 per day or £49 per week) is now well able to afford his own darned e-cigarettes!

The second was the suggestion that doctors should be punished for over- prescribing antibiotics  without giving due thought to the needs of the patient. I understand what the critics are getting at but it would be very hard to prove and also seems a little harsh on our overworked doctors. That said, I don’t doubt that there are some doctors who prescribe medicine to certain bothersome patients just to keep them quiet!

It reminds of the story about the doctor who rings his plumber in the middle of the night complaining that his toilet is flooding. The quick-thinking plumber tells the doctor to throw some aspirins down the toilet and then to give him a call in three days time if the symptoms haven’t cleared up!