Britain's hard-pressed middle class is being forced to plunder savings and rack up huge debts to pay a staggering £623 million for vital operations that NHS hospitals are struggling to perform.

Record numbers of patients are shelling out up to £15,000 a time, after being told they must wait many months for treatment despite being in extreme pain, according to a hard-hitting report.

They are cashing in ISAs and pensions, taking out loans, borrowing from families and friends, and 'maxing out' credit cards to fund treatment they should have had sooner on the NHS, say experts.

The desperate cancer victim: 'They should have started my prostate treatment within a month, but the operation just kept being delayed' Pierre Bütikofer ended up paying £7,000 for a vital prostate cancer operation Pierre Bütikofer ended up paying £7,000 for a vital prostate cancer operation after fearing he faced months waiting on the NHS. Diagnosed last year with an aggressive form of the disease, his NHS consultant said he needed treatment ‘very urgently’. But Pierre, 65, whose own father died of prostate cancer aged 71, said the slot for his prostate removal kept slipping. ‘First they said it was going to be next week, then it was in six weeks’ time, then eight weeks,’ he recalled. ‘The time was moving out and out, and as it was autumn my wife and I were beginning to worry that the hospital was getting busier and busier. We could see the operation would probably not happen until March or April.’ That raised their concerns that the disease could spread in the meantime – with potentially fatal results. Under a key Government pledge, patients diagnosed with cancer should start treatment within 31 days of the ‘decision to treat’. Deeply concerned, Pierre, above, decided to go private, meaning he only had to wait about two weeks. He and his wife Sarah, 50, used their savings but Pierre also had to borrow money from his sister. The operation, which cost £6,900, was a success. Tests indicate he remains cancer-free. Pierre, a photographer from Aylmerton, Norfolk, said: ‘I’m absolutely convinced it was the right decision for my health.’ Norfolk & Norwich Hospital medical director Peter Chapman said: ‘The vast majority of cancer patients receive their surgery in less than 31 days.’ Advertisement

According to the report by medical industry experts UK Private Healthcare, patients are now forking out £623 million a year for treatment.

The shocking increase in 'pay-as-you-go' operations is being fuelled by rapidly lengthening NHS waiting times and 'cruel' rationing of vital operations such as hip and knee replacements.

More than four million people are currently waiting for NHS surgery – the highest figure since 2007.

In some cases, patients have chosen to pay for treatment themselves because they believe waiting on the NHS would prove fatal.

Pierre Bütikofer, 65, paid £7,000 for prostate cancer surgery as he feared he faced waiting months on the NHS.

Noreen Stainwright forked out £5,500 because her NHS hospital failed to perform her gall bladder removal within six months of an 'urgent' referral. Her surgeon said it could have burst at any time – with deadly results.

Life in danger: 'I could have died if my gall bladder had burst' Noreen Stainwright had to plunder her savings to have her gall bladder removed Noreen Stainwright, right, had to plunder her savings to have her gall bladder removed after facing a seven-month wait for NHS surgery. Doctors at New Hall private hospital in Salisbury told the 68-year-old she could have died had she waited any longer. ‘The gall bladder was about to burst,’ she said. ‘That could have caused sepsis which certainly could have cost me my life.’ Noreen, from Hampshire, paid £5,500 for the operation. A Salisbury NHS Trust spokesman said: ‘We are sorry for the distress this delay caused.’ Advertisement

Meanwhile, local health authorities, called Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), have been stealthily raising the bar for access to common operations such as hip and knee replacements, and cataract removals, to save money.

In places with longer waiting lists, the report discovered that demand for self-pay surgery is greater. It forecasts that such spending on essential healthcare will balloon to almost £1 billion a year by 2020, as the NHS struggles to meet demand.

Last night, Liberal Democrat Health spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'We all pay in to the NHS through our taxes on the assumption that care will be there when we need it.

'But increasingly that is not the case. It is unacceptable that people are having to pay for their own essential operations, usually out of desperation. They are having to pay twice.

'The fact that many thousands of patients are now paying for their own essential operations is masking the scale of the problem in the NHS.'

Left in agony: 'I paid £8k for back surgery... I just couldn’t wait a year' Evridiki Charalambous went private after being told she would have to wait five months to see a consultant for back pain Teacher Evridiki Charalambous went private after being told she would have to wait five months to see a consultant for back pain. Her problems started last year when a car crash left her in excruciating pain. She had physiotherapy, which provided no lasting relief, and in January, a scan revealed two slipped discs. Evridiki, right, from Islington, North London, said her GP then told her the shortest waiting time for a preliminary appointment with a consultant was 23 weeks. She said: ‘And that was just to be examined! I discovered the wait for surgery was a year.’ In April, she saw spinal surgeon Bob Chatterjee as a private patient. He tried epidural injections, costing £1,600, which worked but wore off. She then booked a back operation at Highgate Private Hospital, costing £6,270. A spokesman for Whittington Hospital, where Evridiki, 37, would have undergone NHS surgery, said: ‘Waiting times for some procedures, including spinal surgery, have increased.’ Advertisement

Leaked forecasts predict waiting lists will rise to 5.5 million by 2019. The number forced to wait at least six months has almost tripled since 2013, from 45,000 to 126,000.

Surgeon Anand Nanu, president of the British Orthopaedic Association, said CCGs now routinely denied hip and knee replacements to patients on the basis of their weight or because they smoked.

They have also raised pain and immobility thresholds. In January, three West Midlands CCGs said patients would not get hip or knee operations unless their pain stopped them sleeping or carrying out daily tasks.

Mr Nanu added: 'This boils down to saving money. We feel very strongly that this is affecting our patients. It is unsympathetic and, frankly, fairly cruel.'

NHS England said: 'It is no surprise that a report from a firm that profits from helping private healthcare companies grow their business should assert that patients should pay for their own care.'