What are we paying NI for?

to let you understand me, i first will tell you a true story.
My mum does volunteer work for the local hospice, taking people who cannot manage themselves, to and from hospital.
On a recent journey, she picked up a woman who had lung cancer.
The woman was preparing to go on holiday to portugal, and complained to the doctor that she was having chest pains. after a brief examination, the doctor informed her that it was nothing to worry about, and sooff she went on holiday.
while on holiday, her pains got worse and so she visited a portugese doctor and explained her symptoms (the doctor spoke perfect english, of course). the doctor informed her that he didn't like the sound of it, and promptly sent her for an x-ray, which was in the surgery (apparently this is common place in portugal). after studying the x-ray, the doctor told her to immediatly go to the hospital (which was 10 mins away), and get an MRI. so, with her x-rays in hand, off she went. at the hospital she was sat down in a waiting room, and half an hour later was brought in for her MRI. after waiting for the results, she was informed that she had lung cancer.
From start to finish, it took just 5 hours to determine her illness!
Could we honestly expect that level care here in the uk? i doubt it! the process would more likely take 5 weeks!
add to this, that the cost of the MRI over there was something in the region of £115 compared to around £500 here, can we honestly say that we are getting what we pay for?