He had already waited six months before anyone took his symptoms seriously. What began as a quiet loss of confidence had slowly edged into something more persistent—difficulty maintaining an erection, a sense that his body no longer responded the way it once had. His GP referred him onward, but the follow-up appointment never came as quickly as promised. Phone calls stretched into weeks, and the sense of urgency he felt never quite matched the pace of the system around him. By the time he searched for alternatives, he no longer asked whether private care made sense. He asked why it seemed to exist at all.