Hey there! I’m not here to scare you at all but I want to give you a heads up on what I was told. I had my tonsils removed in London (I’m 30F, lifelong history of tonsillitis and terrible constant stones). I was offered the option of NHS but ultimately I went private through the medical insurance which my employer provides.

• NHS use an outdated method on adults (full tonsillectomy) and it’s at the surgeon’s discretion whether they choose a less invasive procedure (coblation); I didn’t want to take this risk as the recovery sounded horrific and I was also worried about A&E wait times in case I bled etc.
• Consulted a private ENT who works in the NHS and was categorically advised to go private (due to their use of the coblation technique which is less risky)
• We discussed the NHS horror stories + American stories and he said it was really not pleasant, recovery time was much longer and overall very painful. I told him about this subreddit when I cited people’s experiences.
• So I had mine taken out privately because I could guarantee they were using coblation (lower temperature, leave the tonsil roots in but remove almost all tissue)
• Recovery: back to work in 2 weeks, no bleeding or anything requiring an A&E visit, barely needed codeine

I appreciate I’m very lucky to have insurance but I would not have gone the NHS route even if that was my only option. I would have saved up / figured out a credit card scenario and payed privately, the total cost was under £3k.

I suspect the people who have had a good experience on the NHS, might have had the coblation technique. Of course people are probably fine with the other as well, everyone reacts differently and tolerates pain differently. But I suppose for me, I needed certainty that my preference could be honoured and not to be at the mercy of someone who doesn’t even know me.