Mate from work did his cruciate and had loads of trouble with the doctors & surgeons. It ended with him having to have 2 operations, the second of which included the surgeon doing everything again, as he wouldn't continue work started by someone else. All this meant he didn't play football for about 2 years.
In contrast my son, who is in America, had a totally different experience. Nothing as extreme but had the MRI scan within days & surgery very soon afterwards. Of course none of this was free but fortunately covered by his works medical insurance. Now he has another problem with the same knee, which is about 3 years after the previous. From a x-ray it appears he has no cartlidge (really hoping the nurse is totally misreading). Again MRI scan is booked for 2 weeks time, so at least no time is wasted getting to the answer.