However several of you got in touch to say that you too had waited a long time for radiotherapy after breast cancer surgery.

BBC: Further NHS Scottish waiting time 'loopholes' emerge

Some plastic surgery operations take so long to perform that there isn't enough time during the day, so sneaky junior doctors would slip in a case over the weekend that could be considered as urgent, but not really an emergency.

BBC: A mean time for doctors

But now medical device makers are introducing an array of new, minimally invasive procedures to provide long-term pain relief without all the costs, risks, complications and recovery time of full-scale surgery.

FORBES: The Big Hurt