Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave...

...when we let civil service bureaucracy have unfettered license to design healthcare systems:

A mother-to-be has been turned down for free dental treatment - because the surgery will not accept that she is expecting.

Sarah Luisis, 27, who is five months pregnant, has been told she needs to provide more proof that she has a baby on the way.

Well, fair dos. Some women these days are huge, and you can’t expect them to just assume that she’s pregnant, instead of just had too much chocolate!

If only she had some sort of medical confirma...

Oh:

That is despite the fact that she has a big bump, a doctor's certificate, antenatal notes and ultrasound pictures of her unborn child.

And that isn’t considered ‘evidence’?

No, it seems she’s missing a magical document that will open the world of free dentistry to her. And if she doesn’t have that particular document no other will do.

Welcome to the NHS, envy of the world!

... the mother of one was turned away from St John's dental practice in Romford because she did not have a Maternity Exemption Certificate.

She said: 'I filled in a form to get the certificate when I found out I was pregnant and sent it off.

'But I've discovered that the form was never received in Newcastle where the certificates are issued.

'I now have to fill in another form but that could take up to four weeks to be approved.'

And if that one also gets lost in the post, she could have actually delivered by the time she gets to see a dentist!

Needless to say, the cries of ‘It’s not our fault!’ ring out loud and clear:

A spokesman for the dental surgery said: 'This is not our policy. It comes from the health authority.

'The PCT have said to us, "We will not pay you if you don't have this information".

'It's not up to us, and we used to take people's word.'

Aha. They used to take people’s word. I wonder why they now don’t?

Is it because the system was abused? And, in order to prevent the abuse, a magical document, the One Form of Pregnancy, was created? I bet that’s what happened...

And now, in spite of the fact that she has other medically-certified forms of proof, without that document, she can’t get treatment.

Because people’s judgement isn’t good enough. All must worship The System. And Pay Homage to Its Forms and Procedures....