I can’t believe it, Scotland have agreed in principal that co-payment should exist.
A couple of days ago they announced that they were scrapping all car park charges in Scotland because NHS should be free at the point of delivery. I thought that was so that when they announced that they were not going to change to allow patients to co-pay they would not be contradicting themselves by charging in car parks.
I am very pleased to say that I was wrong and an so stunned with their decision but pleased at the same time.
Obviously if they had the medicines available to us it would be even better but at least this gives us a choice. I have many fundraiser on the go at the moment with the support of my friends and family. My one priority is to be here for as long as possible for my girls aged 9 and 6 and i don’t care how i do it. The argument about why should I be able to pay for something the woman next door can’t afford is - quite frankly we all have choices to make and mine is to fund raise. If the government did the right thing and didn’t put a cost on peoples lives then we wouldn’t be in this horrible position.
Anyway, I’m happy with the news and hope that it goes through quickly so that people may only have a few months left to live can perhaps extend their life if they so wish.
End of rant, sorry I just feel so passionately about this.
Yes I am pleased for you Diane and hope ther is a change in the rest of the UK too.
I still hope though that voices on behalf of people who will never in a million years have the resources to ‘top up’ will be as loud as the voices for co payment. Co payment is a tiny issue, of importance to a minority. The real issues are about access to drugs for all, and about the UK’s compaartive survival rates on cancer in relation to other developed western countries. Yesterday Karol Sikora also spoke of the inequities in cancer survival in poorer as opposed to wealthier parts of the country.
Drugs must be available for all on the basis of clinical need. If a consultant reckons a drug is worth trying for a particular patient and the patient agrees then it should be financed…out of the coffers of the pharmaceuticals if necessary…if these drugs that NICE can’t find the evidence to approve are so marvellous then let the pharmaceuticals put their money where their mouths are. I find something very distasteful about the idea that this is all about’choice’ and that those who want to live enough will somehow ‘choose’ to fund raise.
Hi Diane,
it is good news and it is also in my mind and I know some dont agree the most sensible way forward. In an ideal world we would all be allowed the drugs we need on the NHS but as they say it is not a bottomless pit.
I am sure you will have many more years with your beautiful family.
The Dr’s for Reform asked me to write a piece for their yearly mag I did and it was accepted. The fight goes on as long as we have to struggle with this disease those of us who dare to speak out will continue to do so.
A piece I heard on Radio 4 recently, suggested that new drugs should cost less from the pharma companies, until they had proved their worth. It does seem riduculous that an unproven drug (such as Avastin) should be so expensive. This would make it easier for those in desperate straits to try the newer or unlicensed drugs without spending the family fortune.
I do agree that co-payment should be an option, not that I think it is the best way forward. I also get annoyed at the ‘government should pay’ arguments. No one suggests where they would find the extra money from. In some of the countries with more effective health care systems than here, they pay higher taxes. I can just imagine the uproar if it was suggested that we pay more for better services…
I think the problem with the NHS is that in the UK we do pay a great deal of tax, but we just don’t get better services.
The waste in the NHS is the stuff of legend. I’ve been in waiting rooms where the admin staff outnumber the patients. NHS doctors’ salaries, even allowing for the high cost of living in the UK, are relatively much higher than on the Continent, where many countries manage without bcns, for example, altogether without compromising standards of care. NHS pensions are incredibly generous by modern standards, as are the sick pay arrangements. When I was struggling to work part time (SSP of £65 a week was the alternative!) on chemo, I was gobsmacked to be told by a nurse that she was entitled to 6 months on full pay if sick followed by 6 months on half pay. My employer gave me 10 weeks! I really think NHS terms and conditions need to be readdressed and brought into line with industry. Far too much of the money is not spent on treatment, drugs and frontline staff.
I agree with all your comments, and I too don’t believe that it should come down to who can afford to pay. Maybe just maybe that by introducing co-payment that when people can’t afford to pay they will speak up and put more politcal pressure on the NHS. Lets face if we are going to told what the best treatment is and what will be free and what won’t be then the people that don’t have the money will have to stand up and be counted and put the pressure on.
I will be one of those people, yes I am fundraising because when I found out the cancer had came back it became obvious if I wanted to give myself a fighting chance then I may need money. However there is only so much you can fund raise it really won’t stretch to all drugs that are out there that are not available on the NHS.
We still have the option of fighting for the right for our trust to pay under extreme circumstances but I think that depends on your oncologist, I can’t say mines seems overly enthusiastic about it. In fact she actually told be that she couldn’t go to the trust on my behalf if i had 3 months left to live and she knew of a drug that could help me. This has turned out to be rubbish so i intend to have it out with her on Tuesday.