Choice in the NHS

I found out the reality of hospital choice in the NHS yesterday. Talking to my GP I suggested that I would like my hip replacement done at another hospital rather than my local one. Not that my local one is bad - it isn't - but that the ones I had in mind were specialist orthopaedic hospitals. However there is lovely Catch-22 involved here: I should have made the choice at the time of referral. But I didn't know what was wrong with me at that time so I went to the local hospital. Hence I cannot change hospitals. Great choice ....