I have gone public and I cannot praise the system here enough. BUT, it does depend on the individual hospital/state/etc. I am in Geelong. I had appointments/tests 9 days out of ten straight after I was diagnosed and then straight into chemo. Public patients here have the option of having their chemo at Epworth Private at no charge. I am so happy with the public clinic I stayed rather than move on to Epworth even though it is the same distance from home. My Public provided Oncologist jumps in to fight for me even when I don't need it. The main problems I have encountered came from the private breast clinic where I paid to have my initial testing.