"Unacceptable time-lag"

My husband, needing prostate surgery - precipitated by a hip operation - was seen in July and told by the surgeon he would be operated in December, meanwhile was kept on a catheter. An appointment was made for 22 December, then put off repeatedly until it became clear there could be months of waiting. Meanwhile the catheter caused numerous problems of infection and blockage, resolved by our GP or, at a time when he had to be abroad, by foreign doctors and hospital. He was also unable to fulfil a commitments to lecture in the USA, letting them down and also losing prospective earnings. (Must give the NHS a fine reputation abroad!) After too much of this, he decided to bite the bullet and have the operation privately - one night in the Nuffield and a cost of £7,000: a double financial setback for us. And his recovery has been prolonged by the effects of being catheterized for more than six months.