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Some interpretation on my part here but it appears this patient was treated privately as the story details certainly don’t match up with my admittedly-minimal understanding of the National Health Service protocols in the UK. I look forward to a response from a better-informed FReeper.

[Some interpretation on my part here but it appears this patient was treated privately as the story details certainly don’t match up with my admittedly-minimal understanding of the National Health Service protocols in the UK. I look forward to a response from a better-informed FReeper.]

It would not surprise me if he had supplemental insurance on top of the universal coverage provided by the NHS. I’ve heard numbers ranging from $200 to $300 a month per person for this coverage. This is how you get to the head of the line, at private facilities, which get some amount covered by the NHS, with the rest paid for by the insurance company. My knowledge is foggy, because I’m getting this coverage info second-hand, and only as a part of some other conversation, from someone who has coverage.

it appears this patient was treated privately as the story details certainly don’t match up with my admittedly-minimal understanding of the National Health Service protocols in the UK.

The article makes clear that he was treated in Torbay Hospital. This is an NHS general hospital serving an area of South Devon about 40 miles from where I live. I can't see anything in the article which suggests that the treatment he received wasn't of the kind available in a NHS hospital. On the contrary - private hospitals in the UK simply aren't equipped to deal with non-standard emergencies of this kind, since they exist primarily to serve a very profitable market, routine operations and procedures such as joint replacement etc. If this man had developed these symptoms in a private hospital, he would have been immediately transferred to a NHS hospital!

I must confess I'm rather mystified by your assumption that this couldn't be so. (I write, by the way, as somebody who has been a NHS patient throughout the 71 years of its existence, but I also use private care when appropriate).

Torbay Hospital