So let me explain a typical situation here in the UK. Private vs public
Public:
1. Call the doctor
2. receive a call back from a nurse asking what the issue is
3. If its a concerning issue, get told you have to visit the ER to get into the system
4. Wait 10-12 hours at the ER to see a doctor
5. Get told you need a different hospital department but need a referral from your doctor
6. Book an appointment with your doctor, wait 2 weeks
7. Go to appointment, get referred to hospital
8. wait 3 months, go to hospital appointment
9. Get referred for MRI, echocardiogram (whatevers necessary)
10. Wait 3 months for appointment
11. Have appointment, wait 3 weeks for results
12. Doctor calls you, gives results, decides on next step
13. Next doctors appointment 3 weeks or 4 months for the hospital again
14. 1 year later and problem has still yet to be addressed.
Private:
1. Consultation next day or same day over the phone/webcam
2. MRI (etc) Same day or next
3. Results 4 days later
4. Prescription sent with it if necessary, available 2 hours later
Now if you have serious concerns that you have an underlying issue that may get increasingly worse, the UK hospitals are an absolute disaster because if that turns out to be the case you wont get diagnosed until its far too late.
The only thing that NHS hospitals are ok for are serious emergencies (exclusively if you can get to the hospital yourself) or just general checks (blood tests etc) where you're not really concerned about waiting 2-4 weeks for the results ....thats about it. I wouldn't use them for anything else at this point.
