If you've ever watched Call the Midwife, you'll realise that the service offer was better at the inception of the NHS than it is now. It's a bone of contention in the management of Nonnatus House in the current series – arguments about what the midwives should be doing is under review. 

What we might once have expected from public services is no longer on offer. We all know the reasons: there is less money, more demand from an aging population and pressure to enable rather than provide.