The NHS is broken - if you can afford it, go private

Letter from my surgeon:

Thank you for coming to see me today after your surgery ... I am pleased to see you have healed and recovered well and have taken the liberty of discharging you back to your doctor.

Since my minor operation in September - for which I chose to go private - I’ve had three post op check-ups.

I don’t have private health insurance but it was money well spent because had I gone through the NHS I would have had to wait at least six months with no guarantee that the NHS would operate at all.

(My GP warned me I would have to jump through several hoops even to be considered for an op. Going private avoided all that, albeit at a price.)

Anyway, ten weeks after the operation I have a barely visible eleven centimetre scar that my surgeon modestly referred to as a “work of art”.

Meanwhile, a friend who needed an ultrasound scan after months of feeling poorly with abdominal pains was told he would be on a three month NHS waiting list just for the scan.

Taking matters into his own hands he went online and found a private company - based in a nondescript industrial estate - and was given an appointment, and a scan, within days.

He can’t afford to go private for the actual treatment (which involves keyhole surgery) but, armed with the scan, he was at least able to return to his GP with the evidence he needed, thereby reducing the process by several months.

He is now on a waiting list to see an NHS surgeon but how long that could be is anyone's guess. As for the operation he needs, who knows?