It is a fact of life that if you need a minor operation then you are likely to have to wait for it for some time. While progress has been made with some waiting times for operations, it can be at least several months before you make it to the top of the list.
This is not a problem if you are not in any pain but for others it can be an agonising wait. So what are the alternatives?
Well, you can decide to pay to go private either out of your savings or by cashing in some of your pension. It is also a possibility to take money from your property with equity release .
This is all very good and well but many people who have decided to go private have not received better care - they have just received faster care. Why should you have to pay for an operation after all these years of saving hard and paying off the mortgage, when other people who have not worked so hard are getting their treatment for free?
Only you can decide. If you feel that the pain or discomfort while you are waiting for your operation to come up is affecting your quality of life then you may well decide to push things ahead and pay to go private, even if it does mean using up your savings.
