The Castle by Franz Kafka

I chanced upon this book in my local library, and it came to mind when a friend said that he found reading Kafka "almost unbearable" (ie too painful), or words to that effect.

The synopis on the back of the Vintage Classics edition of The Castle says that : "This is the story of K and his arrival in a village where he is never accepted, and his relentless, unavailing struggle with authority in order to gain entrance to the castle that seems to rule it...."

Now this reminds me a little of my arrival in Worcester several years ago, and subsequent dealings with local bureacracies (private and public), and in particular the Health Service.

The Worcestershire Royal infirmary occupies a sort of castle, built, under the Private Finance Initiative, on the edge of town. It is fair to say that quite alot of controversy surrounds this institution, as something which consumes large amounts of money.

My guess is that most people enter the employment of the National Health Service with worthy intentions, but end up struggling with "the system" like characters in a Kafka novel . The exception to this may be certain hospital managers, "trustees", and contractors (particulary IT).

In my own case, having been to the hospital for a test and an x-ray in the last year (nothing serious I hasten to add), there was some question mark over whether I would ever receive the results of these (owing to bureaucratic complications).

When I did manage to obtain the results, these required interpretation from 2 GPs in order for me to obtain a "balanced opinion" (with which I'm reasonably happy) Not the fault of the hospital this, but a cautionary tale nevertheless.

I once said to a fellow "patient" at the GP surgery in question that obtaining an appointment was more difficult than gaining access to a former Soviet Block country (in fact this was easier in my experience !), and the border guards may have had better customer service training.

So when I first came across The Castle, I decided not to read it as it seemed rather too similar to my everyday experiences.