Knee Surgery

A friend of mine did his knee in a while ago, sounds similar to this. He went private right away, costed a fortune but everything happens in days / weeks rather than months / years
I would do this immediately, except I have to wait to see if it can be done (relatively) quickly on the NHS first. Basically from the insurance company's point of view, if I am gonna be cripped for many months, it's gonna cost them more in settlement than if I had surgery privately.