Your first sentence describes how pretty much all socialised healthcare operates. Cosmetic and elective surgeries are generally private in the UK. The NHS gene

Your first sentence describes how pretty much all socialised healthcare operates. Cosmetic and elective surgeries are generally private in the UK. The NHS generally only deal with these procedures when they relate to another health matter e.g. reconstructive surgery due to injury or gastric bands for the severely overweight. There's also a private healthcare market for more general care, which frankly needs to be destroyed due to the ongoing damage it's causing. The current government are a bunch of crooks. Hopefully, they'll soon be dining with Thatcher.