The NHS is a great institution, but it could learn a lot by seeing what is done in other countries.
For instance, I have a medical card with a unique number, similar to a driving licence. When I go to a doctor, anywhere in Spain, they read my card and immediately know my complete medical history.
Four days ago I had to go to the hospital to see "dracula". I had been given an appointment time, and when I arrived I held my card in front of a reader, in the same way as one pays a bill with a credit card. The machine printed out a code number and I went to sit down in the waiting room. On a big screen, there were loads of numbers, with a cubicle number attached. I watched my number head up the queue, and then it was allocated a cubicle. I entered the cubicle, and the nurse filled four vials with my blood, labeling then with a self adhesive bar code that had been printed out automatically as soon as I was called. The time from arriving to leaving was about fifteen minutes, because everything is computerised. When I went to see my doctor two days later, in our local medical centre, she pulled up the lab results on her screen and issued a prescription, entering it on the computer. I then went to a local pharmacy, (there is a choice of around half a dozen) where they put my card in to their computer, and issued me my drugs, charging me 10% of the full price.
I month's supply of Losartan plus one month's supply of Alprazolam cost me 53 cents, meaning the medicines cost the government 5 euros and 30 cents.
I don't know how much the NHS pays for these drugs, but unscrupulous suppliers do try to overcharge. In Spain, they are automatically blacklisted, and as far as I know it's permanent, so drug companies toe the line.

TY For informing us w/ 1st hand knowledge