Quote:
Originally Posted by kazbates
From what I understand, if you want highly specialized care in the UK, you have to pay for it. Is this not true?
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No, absolutely not. You certainly can opt to go "private" if you wish, and that way you'll see a specialist more quickly and, if you do go into a private hospital, get a nicer room than you would in an NHS hospital, but as far as the actual "standard" of care goes, then (generally speaking, at least) there will be no difference.
Things which people tend to have done privately are "quality of life" type things which are not "life-threatening", so you might have to wait 6 months to get them done on the NHS. The might include things like cateract or hip replacement operations, for example. (Or "cosmetic surgery" which the NHS doesn't do.) The "serious stuff" you will get immediate and (normally) excellent NHS treatment for, as I have personal experience of when my Mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer. She could not have received better treatment, and made a full recovery.