There were, she thought dryly, many advantages in being a relative of a hospital consultant.
The culprit is not, on the whole, inefficiency, indolence or excessive private work by hospital consultants.
A study was done on the stress levels in general practitioners and hospital consultants in 1994.
A contract agreed by the last Government has given hospital consultants an average pay rise of more than a third since 2003, while working hours fell.
-only 8% of women who had children in the last 5 years said they would prefer a hospital consultant to provide their antenatal care.
A controversial memo to hospital consultants has been withdrawn after claims it was creating a two-tier health system.
There's active resistance from both hospital consultants and GPs.
But Medicare rules appear to have encouraged some hospitals to raise their charges, according to hospital consultants and lawyers.
A clear shift of power away from the hospital consultants was apparent.
Innovation has, however, been largely driven by hospital consultants and scientists with specialist interests in diseases and treatment.