I SPEND a lot of time on NHS matters in the constituency. But I rarely see much of the NHS beyond the bounds of Lincolnshire.

That changed last week. I was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital just across the river at Westminster for a dermatological reaction to a weed killer which had symptoms that could have been of much more serious origin.

It was an amazing insight into the best and worst of British medicine, the squalor and the glory.

I referred myself to the Accident and Emergency Unit. It was not at all like the one we have just saved in Grantham, where there is always a good tempered atmosphere and a smiling welcome from reception.

The waiting time was three hours. The receptionists were overstretched, overstressed and showed it.

Perhaps that is not surprising. They had a good sample of the population of South London to deal with. There were drunks and druggies. The police made several appearances. Just before my wife and I arrived apparently two women had been fighting. We missed that particular spectacle.

Eventually I was examined by a doctor. My wife, Chantal, who was with me, noticed two cigarette ends under the bed in the cubicle. I told the doctor who put on disposable gloves and removed them himself with a shrug.

I was then put in an observation or “Clinical Decision” ward. In the bed opposite for the twelve hours I spent there was a MRSA-positive patient. I can do no better than quote the letter I have since sent to the Chief Executive (copied to Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health):

“No attempt was made to isolate him. When I asked I was told that he was going to be 'discharged later in the day'. I have no idea whether he was. By discharging such patients you clearly contribute to making MRSA endemic in the population as a whole, and put at risk vulnerable people in the same household. By not isolating them in hospital you contribute directly to the epidemic there.”

Was that the end of the story? No. Once I got to the Dermatological Institute I was brilliantly diagnosed and treated by one of the best dermatological departments in the world. That part of the experience was a privilege and a revelation.

My conclusions? We do need targets in the health service, and probably more not less central oversight. We certainly need general rules imposed from above on public health – including MRSA.

And next time I need A and E, I hope I’m close to Grantham Hospital.