UK patients are less sophisticated than patients in other countries e.g U.S, France and Germany, mainly because in those countries one has to pay for medical care ( or part payment) as in the UK, no money "changes hands".
The advantages of free health care are there for all to see and the advantages of pay for service method is that you require value for your money and the following questions are often asked:
Do I really need this test, treatment or procedure?
What are the risks or downsides?
What are the possible side-effects?
Are there simpler, safer options?
What will happen if I do nothing?
All valid questions as you are paying up for the treatment and want good value, as in the UK it is "free" so "what the hell."
Slipping into the internet era has had tremendous advantages in almost all fields, including medicine, but in the latter it has opened up a scope for budding non qualified posters and "Googlers" who see themselves as overnight experts.........as seen regularly on AB. The internet CAN be helpful if your reading is applicable to the disease that has been confirmed by medical means.
The NHS system and philosophy is entrenched in modern UK medicine and is unlikely to change because of it's Political attachments.