Sorry, I realise this comment is late - but I think your GP made a really bad call. If you were referred into the public system, cancer is always looked at on a high-risk basis. Even in the middle of all this COVID fun & games, you would have been seen pretty promptly I reckon (unless you live on a cattle station or something).
In my experience, the public system is great, and probably even more accessible and quicker than a private doctor, who deals with scheduling and whatnot based on their own criteria. (Honestly, my personal opinion is that your GP might be some kind of an idiot - and gave you horrible advice - you should have immediately been referred to your local metro hospital ENT clinic for urgent diagnosis).
The public system is good, and part of the reason is the triage / duty of care mandate - cancer is life threatening, so it jumps the queue over a lot of chronic, even very serious, respiratory issues.
But yeah, further - your GP can order a biopsy - without knowing the details, they can refer you to one of the imaging clinics (many of which provide bulk billable services). In my case I was referred for a fine needle aspiration / biopsy by my local GP, which he did concurrent to referring me to the hospital ENT clinic.
It's all situational, so I may be unfair not knowing the detail - but let's say the suspicious symptoms were fatigue and a swelling in the lymph node on the left side of your neck .. doctor could have referred you for urgent ENT evaluation in the hospital system while concurrently obtaining a biopsy. That's what happened for me, anyway.
Sorry, no two ways around it, I personally think your GP screwed up. I think they made a bad call. Sure, it's just my two cents, and maybe completely unfair, but I really don't think the course of action they suggested is sound or prudent, as a person who's gone through all this stuff from a patient's point of view. It was further delinquent of them not to take into account your resources and any limitations in that regard - what the hell is the point of pressing you toward a private clinic if you are worried about being able to pay for the consult, let alone subsequent bills ?
Further, not every private ENT is going to be highly competent with the oncology stuff. Sure they'll know all about it no doubt, but some ENTs might have more of a surgical background than diagnostic, who knows - they're just one person, whereas in the hospital system it'll be the ENT clinic and a team of doctors, so you can be pretty comfortable one of the attending physicians looks at suspicioius oncology stuff every day.
The major metro hospitals will have a multi-disciplinary approach with initial cancer diagnostics & treatment plans - you get looked at by a few ENTs, radiation oncologists, chemo oncologists, they look at the scans, discuss your case - having an outside ENT involved or steering is probably even non-viable (and likely pretty bloody expensive)
Maybe you're in an area where the local hospital service is very limited, and they have more insight into that than I do - so take my remarks with a grain of salt ..... BUT .... whether it's Cairns Base Hospital or Brisbane Metro's RBWH, they'll take a potential cancer prognosis seriously and prioritise accordingly. Maybe you're in a black spot area or something .. but if you're in one of the major cities, I'd take a very long look at your GP.
Let us know how you went - hopefully no cancer (but hey, in my experience where there is smoke there's fire). If you did get diagnosed with cancer, I hope the prognosis is good, and treatment is already underway. It's outside my experience whether a few weeks can make a trajectory difference for whatever class of cancer (mine was tonsil), but hopefully everything is on track, even if you got off to a shaky start.
Sorry if this reads a bit ranty - I guess I am a little angry about the advice you got, it really seems to me to fall so clearly and notable in the "BAD" column.
Hope it's all worked out, let us know your situation if you are so inclined ?
