Wishing a speedy recovery to you both, I think the frontline service when you get there is very good and is often superb in quality. It is my opinion that the administration side of things seems too cumbersome and as an indirect result affects the treatment of patients. I recently lost a close friend to a brain tumour, and some of the situations he encountered within the system were appalling, however it was more often that not a result of the administration behind the treatment. He found out he actually had cancer by receiving a referral letter to see an oncologist through the post prior to seeing the consultant for the results of his brain scan....mistakes like this just should not be allowed to happen in a modern system.
In addition the care aspect of people who have to endure stays in hospital appears to be slipping, often due to reduced numbers, it is not the physical treatment that appears to be the issue, but the care aspect that is suffering.
I also find it interesting to note that you mentioned private care, and inevitably this seems to be a benefit being taken up by a lot more people including where offered through the corporate companies etc. This must remove some people out of the system for routine treatment but yet does not seem to be making any difference in terms of burden on the system.
The politicising of this system is painful and an issue that needs to be resolved, but I do fear that that the alternative will inevitably just breed more bureaucracy into the system.