I wouldn't hold the NHS up as a paragon of virtue. I got sick on a recent trip to London and tried to get in to see a GP under the NHS and it was impossible.

The clinics near my hotel only accepted same day bookings. I tried calling just after opening hours and the phone was engaged. I managed to get through 15 minutes after the clinic opened and the clinic was booked out for the day and I would have to call back the next day. I tried a number of clinics and they were all booked out. I was lucky that I wasn't that sick and got better. Otherwise, I was looking at an exorbitant fee to see a private doctor.

I was shocked, as I always assumed that the NHS was better than the system we have in Australia. I think that there are lots of perverse incentives involved in Medicine and Healthcare. Government intervention is required to balance out these incentives from profit takers and consumers (i.e. smokers, obesity, etc). I'm not sure that any model in the world right now gets the balance right.

Note my comment about "I'd prefer it if the NHS was resourced to a level"....

The issue with not getting GP appointments quickly seems to have been a relatively recent thing - due to lack of resources and mismanagement rather than fundamental problems with the approach.

That's not entirely true. If you're actually emergent and require a same day apptmnt then they've got held appointments for you. However this has led to an extremely strange system where often GP receptionists are essentially gatekeeping services (as a pre requisite to accessing the GPs who gatekeep the other services...)

> I'd prefer it if the NHS was resourced to a level

You know what a great system for allocating resources in an incredibly complex system is?

Prices.

> a relatively small private healthcare system for those who want treatments not covered by the NHS, or a nicer room etc.

From what I've heard about the Charlie Gard [0] and Alfie Evans [1] cases, that isn't always allowed, and even being an Italian citizen or an offer from the Pope can't sway the decision [3].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Gard_case

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfie_Evans_case

[3] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/23/protesters-storm...

??? Alfie Evans had nothing to do with the NHS not wanting to cover the treatment. From the first paragraph of the wikipedia article you linked to:

> Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust sought a declaration that continued ventilatory support was "unkind and inhumane", and not in Evans' best interests

Some people liken that to a "death panel", in that it was not unanimously agreed with by other medical professionals, including those that thought there may be other forms of treatment for the same affliction that were not being covered by the NHS.

Yes, doctors here (as, indeed, in most countries) can take cases to court when they believe the best interests of their patients are not being looked after by the legal guardians. And these are not mediocre doctors, nor was this being done lightly.

The treatments not covered were not even approved for use in the UK privately afaik - it was entirely unrelated to the NHS budgets.

The NHS is a partnership with the private sector any way, because GPs are greedy.

All GP practices in the UK are privately run.