How free is free?

Of late I've had a few dealings with UK's much-vaunted National Health Service (the 'NHS').

It is an amazing institution, set up in 1948 by the Attlee Labour Government to ensure that health care was available to every Briton 'free at the point of delivery'. Millions upon millions of words have been written for and against the NHS. It is rightly seen as a sort of national glue that protects against the health-driven inequities of the US. Equally it is described as a bloated and wasteful bureaucracy, said to be the second largest employer on the planet after the Chinese Red Army.

What I'd like to focus on is the word 'free'.

As a system, the NHS is only free in a monetary sense. And what the customer saves in pennies is extracted from him in time and frustration. It's in the system's interest to keep me waiting. It's also in the system's interest to have me wait in as uninviting an environment as possible, but that's perhaps a lesser point. It is not in the system's interest to treat me as a 'professional'; as someone whose time has a monetary value.

This is why we like dealing professionals, be they individuals or organisations. If there seems to be an unspoken awareness that your time has a value then you're probably in good hands.