From J.P. Porter, Shanklin:

There would appear to be three available options for islanders awaiting hospital treatment here on the Isle of Wight.

1. Take up St Mary’s offer for treatment in a private hospital on the mainland, which at this point in time they will pay for.

2. Pay St Mary’s for private treatment here on the Isle of Wight in our NHS hospital.

3. Join the ever-lengthening queue of NHS patients waiting months and months, and sometimes over a year, for hospital treatment here on the island.

The Island is clearly being used as a political test bed, with Islanders being coerced into dropping our NHS, and being forced into opting for private healthcare as the only realistic avenue for receiving more and more medical treatments.

It’s a very slippery and carefully choreographed road towards Americanised healthcare charted by the moneyed elite at the very top of our health service.

Welcome to our privatised NHS.

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