And this is what I don't understand..... that this is allowed to happen but in a shorter amount of time. But it's wrong that we're already paying for the service but essentially we're being forced to pay for it twice in order to be seen in an acceptable time.
It is because of the way the NHS contracts were drawn up in the 40s. Surgeons and Consultants and so on are allowed as part of their package time in NHS facilities to see private patients. It is a financial benefit to them, at very little cost to us.
The point is however, had you gone private you would have been seen in the same hospital and in the same conditions.
As far as the time frame is concerned it really depends on what your condition is and what the NHS can manage.
The problem as I see it, is that we spend less than other similar countries like France and Germany, but expect (and in most respects get) a world class service. Iceland, Germany, The United States, France, Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Australia, Japan, Netherlands, Austria, Italy and Ireland all spend more per head than we do on their publicly provided health care.
Waiting times and rationing are to do with demand outstripping supply, and the solution is to increase supply, which costs money. What we currently have is incredible value for money, with several problems relating to that, like for instance, waiting times.
By and large waiting times are considerably less than they were when the Tories had finished wreaking havoc on the NHS in the 80s and 90s, but if we spent less on, say renting nuclear weapons from the US, then we would have more to spend on the NHS without raising the tax implications.
) and the care I recieved has always been good. In America the healthcare system seems to really punish the poor and that just seems horrible and cruel (just like the death penalty huh 
