I think that's the problem with "what I read". I think the "man on the street" would probably agree but not necessarily from hard data, just from the fact it is

I think that's the problem with "what I read". I think the "man on the street" would probably agree but not necessarily from hard data, just from the fact it is easy to blame inefficiency rather than structural or human problems. "The NHS is full of bureaucracy" but it is a bureaucratic system so of course it is. People to charge hospital costs back to GPs, people to investigate trends and make sure that some GPs are not under-referring people to hospital, etc. but when I worked in the NHS many moons ago, it didn't seem particularly disproportionate to the size of the organisation. There were many more problems with people not doing their jobs properly but that was everyone, not just this nebulous "middle management" that everyone likes to cite! Certainly, some hospitals under-perform and have issues with culture and discipline but that's the same as any business.