Long waits make for sicker patients. Sicker patients need more time in hospital. Our health system needs urgent care (opens in new tab)

When experienced staff leave, the inexperienced people who replace them need years to gain confidenceVisiting the magnificent Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, my elderly dad resolutely navigated the steep stairs as I held my breath. My mother, less mobile and more wary, stayed at ground level but the 12th-century ground wasn’t exactly smooth. All I could think was “falls risk”, which casually led me to ask our guide what the local hospital system was like. This invited a lament about the long w...