Vermont's socialized medicine works much the same way. My sister in law had to wait nine months for a back operation (while being kept on morphine) and three months for hip replacement, after falling off her horse again. For three months she was given a walker and more drugs until they could get around to fixing the broken hip. She is only 48 and should have had pins put in the hip, instead of a whole replacement because she is too young to be given a replacement that only lasts ten to fifteen years.
Sounds like she should stay off the horse;)
The hip op sounds strange in Britain if someone has an accident and breaks a hip normally they get the op within 3 days because otherwise infection can set in or so I understood.