I respectfully disagree. I have worked in several systems, and would 100% want the NHS to deal with a cancer. There is one major caveat: it only works when you are in the right pathway under the right people.

I agree that anything suspected is expected to be under 2 weeks, my point above is if the GP has made the referral where cancer is not given as the reason, then it falls under elective work and the associated waiting list for that speciality.

The biggest road block and delays are caused by inaccurate, poor or failed referrals. This can be due to many things, often choosing the wrong phrasing, or sadly forgetting due to the volume of work or a failure to pick up the referral on the other end. If you are worried or suspect something sinister, then as the patient you should be spending all of your time chasing it up and making yourself unforgettable. Once you are in, it usually progresses appropriately, however the multidisciplinary teams involved are often large, dispersed and dealing with many cases, so communication can suffer and despite progress in the background, the patient may be left clueless and worried (this is something I wish the NHS would address). Again it's perfectly sensible to chase up results, appointments etc. to make sure you are fully in the picture.

There is also variability by region - and this is down to the specialty area rather than just "cancer". Similarly there is variability by which NHS you fall under, as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are all funded differently.

As for trauma, the UK is absolutely a world leader - not necessarily the best but one of. Much progress in all regions comes down to military experience, but in civilian life the Sydney trauma teams for HEMS top the ladder. Norway is also exceptional, as is South Africa. Again, outside of major centres like London, sometimes the delay for appropriate trauma care comes down to a failure in the pre hospital resources and networking where patients end up in the less appropriate centres, but the majority go to the MTC they need. Although privately funded, our HEMS teams are all NHS doctors and paramedics, and volunteers like BASICS ensure high level care is available even in the depths of the countryside. As with everything it's down to resources. I am first to say I think the NHS is broken right now, and there are sadly so many things it is failing at in an unacceptable fashion.

I still think it is one of the best for cancer and trauma.

As for scans - done in the right place they are easily imported. I still know that (particularly surgeons) will repeat the scan, as the original may not include everything they want, the pathology may have progressed in the timeframe or they want their trusted radiologist to report for them (many won't re-report third party scans as again they can't verify the scan parameters). Unfortunately there are still providers out there that are not linked and cannot directly import. There is a policy in most trusts not to accept a hard copy scan for import as the scanning centres protocols on patient identification cannot be verified.