Here's a good, overall description of the Brit system - coming to a country near you....
The government's hold over medical practice in Britain is becoming ever firmer; it now dictates conditions of work and employment, the number of hours worked, the drugs and other treatments that may be prescribed and the way in which doctors must be trained. Doctors are less and less members of a profession; instead, they are production workers under strict bureaucratic control.
"The doctor explains that while people on SS are complaining of standards of health care, in government hospitals the standard of care is dropping due to increased workload of hospital staff and a growing numbers of patients.
"Now we have waiting lists," he says and compares Thailand to the UK's NHS (National Health Service). "We studied the EU community and their health care systems and wanted to bring that to Thailand," he says, though adds that in many western countries some "responsibility" must come from the patient.
Due to Thailand's UC system now being completely free there is an "over utilisation" of the health care system, he says. Because it's free, and drugs are free, doctors and nurses are "overburdened and overworked". "