In the meantime, those who have private health insurance just say 'when' and they jump. Often the same surgeons/Consultants who have no time for the same op and huge waiting lists on the NHS side of their practice.
This is the problem, IMO. Surgeons who are trained in the NHS and use NHS facilities to carry out 'private' operations are creating a lot of the queues for those without insurance. If people who use private medicine were expected to fund it fully - training the staff, building the hospitals and so on, the premiums would be astronomical, there would be very few who could afford to do it, and a fairer system, based on clinical need, could be instituted.