I have just discovered from talking to others that anyone with private medical cover in my area receive results earlier than those on the NHS.
does this bother me I am furious! obviously our lives are not as important, we might have paid in for a lifetime but hey who cares.
I know of others who have had some results on the same day that I have waited 5 weeks for and have still to wait another at least 3 weeks to go for the last.
chris
Hi Chris, I don’t know where you are but I’m in Cambridgeshire, having private treatment simply because we happen to have BUPA although the NHS has an excellent reputation locally. I still had to wait a week for SLN biopsy results, had mastectomy, axillary clearance and immediate reconstruction, and got results just over two weeks after surgery. I may have had a different team of consultant surgeons working together than would have been the case with NHS treatment but they are all superb here, there is no sense that a different one would have left me less happy with the cosmetic result, and I certainly don’t think there is any discernible difference in care between private and NHS here. Some of my appointments have been at a BUPA hospital but as the recon is done in a specialist plastic surgery unit the actual surgery was in the teaching hospital that both NHS and private patients go to. I can wait an hour to be seen whichever hospital I visit and the main advantage of the BUPA one is that parking is free, though it’s still a nightmare finding a space!
Hi Girls
I would just like to comment on Private v NHS.
I was given a 17 week waiting time for my initial hospital referral and decided that, that was too long and paid to see a woman breast specialist at another hospital. This probably, was the best £100 that I have ever spent. I saw her on the Friday where she did a biopsy, and by the following Wedensday I was booked into her clinic. When I paid the bill she even tried to get it cheaper for me as she knew that I didn’t have cover.
On the Monday following she phoned me at work to tell me the results, I had asked her to do this, as I wanted to be in some kind of control, and the waiting for results is enough to send someone ‘over the edge’. (well it was with me)
I had a lumpectomy the following Thursday and 5 days later she phoned me at home with the results. I started 25 of rads. 3/4 of the way through I felt another lump, within 1 week I had had another biopsy, results given, MRI,CT and bone scans were arranged the week after and as I got the results of the bone scan at 4.00pm on the Thursday I was on my way to hospital at 4.30pm for a mastectomy which was performed on the Friday by my surgeon who came in from her day off to do it! On the Saturday night, I got a phone call from her at 11.00pm, she was phoning from her holiday to see how I was!! This is pure dedication, and I was so lucky to have found her. (I have since heard stories from other girls who she has done exactly the same thing with) So I think that it is so important to get a good surgeon, and I have tried all the way through this terrible ordeal to still get them to treat me as an intelligent woman who has a right to know what is going on as soon as possible. It really is cruel to expect us to wait any length of time.
I sent thank you notes all the way through, just to remind them that I was still here and grateful for the way they were dealing with me.
I don’t know if it was my attitude or that I was just lucky, but I am very grateful for both the NHS and Private system.
Good luck girls!
Love Debbie x
I live in Fife and have been dealt with really quickly and efficiently on the NHS, I could not fault them. I had my first meeting with the breast clinic on a Tuesday got the results on the Thursday, a bone scan Friday, a CT scan Monday and results of scans by onc on the Tuesday (all done in a week) I started chemo the following Wedenesday so I would like to praise the NHS>
What I feel is unfair is that at the moment private patients are recommened different chemo/drugs than NHS. It is the onc that are prescribing these drugs it’s just that the NHS have not rubber stamped the licensed drug, I get so annoyed to think that we are not getting the best drugs available because of NICE and the length of time they take to authorise something.
Then if you ask if you can pay for that part they tell you that that would be creating a two tier NHS system so that it’s all private or all NHS. So even that part you are entitiled to free then becomes very costly in’s an absolute scandal, I intend to take them on on this one from the outset, I simply refuse to take this two tier argument seriously when for years people have paid for scans to save them waiting and at the dentist, he dentist don’ t suddenly charge you private for everything because you want one white filling.
hi i am in bedfordshire.
i saw Dr with lump on a Mon was told i would have phone call in 48 hrs i did with an apt for the following Mon. on that Mon i had mammogram nothing showed so a biopsy and i had the results on the Fri. at Fri meeting i was given a date two weeks later for lumpectomy. i had this on Thurs and sentinel node and again the following fir i had results back. showed more spots so recommended to have mastectomy and imm reconstruction. so i was booked in three weeks later as i had a holiday abroad booked and was told to take it. otherwise it would have been sooner. i have had brilliant treatment almost too quick to get my head round it. i was in a nhs hospital that had private wards and i even got a private room for both ops that did cost 100 a night but well worth it. i am looking for private health care cover now as spoilt by private room but i have read these small private hospitals are not as trained in BC as nhs who deal with lots. anyway i want best of both worlds nhs care but private room. take care
Hi i was fast tracked by my gp to nhs hospital, but when i did get my results and was told it was cancer i asked about going private and was told i would be treated exactly the same by the same staff and get exactly the same treatment!!! stayed NHS and cant really fault them, i was even made a cup of tea in bone china cups and saucers after my biopsy (they had told me it wasnt looking great though)
Anna
I have private cover through bupa, however found a lump went to the doctors on a friday 4.00pm appointment on the monday got a call from the hospital for an appointment for the tuesday, had a scan, mammomgram and biopsy, had a call from the hospital to come in on friday and on friday was told it was cancer. I then told them I had bupa cover and wanted to know if things could be done any quicker, which they couldn’t at most often its the same surgeons who operate on both bupa and NHS. I cannont fault or even knock the NHS for the speed they have worked at.
suky
I think its a crazy system. The only difference going privately should make it that you have a choice of hospital and who does the treatment. It should not mean that treatment regimens are different - that is unacceptable. This two tiered system that the government keeps wanting to avoid is going to get wider and wider and depending on where you live in the healthcare lottery, there are likely to be three tiered and even four tiered systems. I don’t know what the answer is, but this has got to stop. We have enough to contend with without thinking we could have better treatment if only we had the money.
Cathy
xx
This is a tricky one to answer in just one posting and i am sure others will have far more knowledge of it than me.
However i do think we live in a society which has a two tier system in place in a lot of areas not just health.
One of the areas that annoys me is education, as we struggle to help kids thorugh uni and they will leave with £20,000 debts. Many of their friends parents can pay it all for them. Private schools have smaller classes and far more opportunities than state schools too.
I do think Money talks.
I have been treated quite well on the NHS during my BC journey, However waiting for results has not been one of them. My freind goes private and her consultant phones her the same evening with the results where as i have had to wait 2-3 weeks for some of mine.
Another friend has been seen by a consultant and operated on the same week, not with BC i may add.
The area that annoys me most is where certain drugs are not available unless you can pay, I hope i never get to that stage but feel for others who have.
I believe we are all equal and as important as each other. and should in an ideal world be treated the same regardless of money or anything else.
I too think the differences are shocking.I was dx through routine followup to mammo.This was NHS and there were about 4 days wait between tests and return for results.Not clear after repeat mammo and FNA so had to go back following week for core biopsy.Another week to wait for results.At that consult[not before]I mentoned I had limited private health cover for cancer.The surgeon said,‘‘In that case I can give you a date for surgery now’’.That was 3 weeks on.The differences it has made are that I had a private room and elaborate food menu;the consultant did the op himself;a consultant anaesthetist did the general and the surgeon came to my room a few hours after sugery and told me the size[2cm]and grade[2] of the lump.He said the nodes looked healthy[sample of 6]but I had to see him in a week for final diagnosis.It was a further week before I saw the onc.I’ve always felt this was no quicker than it would have been on NHS.I know my chemo was not then[2006] available on NHS but it is now.I was given Neulasta as a precaution against neutropenia and that is not readily available on NHS although GCSF injections are.Although my followups are all in a pleasant private clinic,and I got followup mammo results in an hour I dont feel there was much benefit beyond the chemo[which was a lot].My cover only lasts 2 years so after October I will opt to pay for yearly mammos so I can get results without waiting.I am in same PCT as Chris99.I think bc treatment is very much a postcode lottery and in hindsight I should have shopped around a little as Chris has done.Ah well,onwards and upwards.Love Valxx
Although it took quite a while to first get into the NHS system I can’t fault my hospital. When I have my CT scans (3 monthly) my oncologist rings me within a couple of days, I’ve even had her tell me on the day sometimes after she’s seen the consultant radiologist but I think that says far more about her as an individual rather than it being the norm as she’s aware that it raises anxiety.
I went privately 3.5 years ago when I was diagnosed with secondaries purely for the scans as the MRI scan appointment was going to take quite a bit of time through the NHS but as soon as I knew the results I went straight back into the NHS and they have been brilliant. It’s not a level playing field across the country as it should be.
Pinkdove
Pinkdove - is is easy to swap between private and NHS? I have had all my treatment to date privately but I guess there will come a point when I eaither leave work or they refuse to pay for anything - do you just then get signed up as an NHS patient? I assuming that’s the case but would like to know!
Geraldine
Hi,
I was referred straight away by my GP, and seen within 2 weeks, but diagnosis took 6 months as the consultant told me to stop hrt and go back in a couple of months. My lump did not show up on anything and the fna was inconclusive. Eventually after more tests and core biopses the dx was ilc. I cannot fault the treatment after that despite having to pay for an MRI scan because the NHS could not do one quickly enough. Overall I am happy with the NHS.
I had my op privately as my husband was covered through work but it still took over 4 weeks to get the path results following my mastectomy. I was offered a different chemo regime which hadn’t been approved by our PCT. The down side of having private treatment is the lack of support. I could only ring the chemo ward in Bupa during office ours 4 days a week whereas i think NHS patients could ring at any time. There was a BCN but only one so there was no-one when she was off work sick for quite a long time. I was expected to by my own prosthesis and had no help with the wig issue and had to sort it all out myself. It was also very isolating as i never met anyone else with breast cancer until i went to a BCC living with cancer course. Everybody there seemed to know each other!
So there are 2 sides to it.
Kelley
I just wanted to add that I visited the chemo suite today - this is at a different BUPA hospital from the one where my routine appts and SLN biopsy were done - and the nurse said, “The big difference here is we have 15 chemo patients each day and the NHS unit has about 50. It means you and the team get to know each other pretty well, and that you can have all the time and privacy you want”.
This is the first real difference that has been set out for me in so many words. Oh, and I don’t think I get an NHS voucher towards a wig.
…and sorry, to add to Kelley’s comments, I was told I can ring them (the chemo suite in the BUPA hospital) 24/7 and should contact them rather than my GP about absolutely any medical concern during my treatment. They will supply the name of a wig salon and also someone who would come to the house with a selection. I don’t know the position regarding support groups but don’t feel that is for me at the moment so I haven’t asked.
Be thankful we have only a two-tier system. There are people in other parts of the world who have a considerably worse time dealing with cancer, or indeed any serous illness. As for what one reads about the problems in the US, there are times when one is left speechless.
The NHS seems great when dealing with the emergencies, and tied up in bureaucracy for anything else. Deal with that and it is very probable that those who opt out and go private through anger and frustration at the delays and procrastinations would be perfectly happy to stop paying private fees.
As to the large scale clinics - if they stopped closing all the smaller district hospitals, the clinics would be smaller in each and less stressful for staff and patients.
My sister and i share the ‘distinction’ of being diagnosed with invasive lobular cancer 12 months apart -as she was going back to work I was sitting in the hosp waiting to see the consultant. she had private health insurance, i don’t.
the differences and similarities so far - my sis was seen by a consultant 8 days afer consultng GP, i was seen on day 13. hers was evident on mammogram. Mine was not on mammogram or ultrasound but confirmed by core biopsy. All my tests were done on the same day and i had the results 2 days later, confirming cancer. Apparently i have dense breast tissue (LOL I still find that funny) so i then had an MRI. That took 2 weeks.
we were both given the same treatment path - mastectomy - both rightsided, chemo and radio.
She had a private bedroom/bathroom post op. i shared a room with 4 other women (they were gynae and tethered by catheters) so effectively the bathroom was mine. we both left hospital after 2 nights.
my niece has seen her mother’s wound scar and mine. notwithstanding all the stuff about how we heal differently… my niece says wow auntie J… that’s like just a line - no lumpy stuff like mum has. My sis has dog ears. hmmm ok…luck of the draw on surgeon skills.
i have had access to breast care nurses and she has not. they are invaluable.
despite paying she had a ‘grim’ oncologist who gave her life chances and made her feel they were not good… i took pot luck and got prof grieve who tells me his role is to make sure i die of old age.
She has had to buy everything from prosthesis to wig with no help. I have had support and help and subsidised stuff.
She had lovely nurses during chemo and routinely had bone marrow booster drugs. i have lovely nurses - no boosting drugs but i am on a trial so i will be doing different drugs from her soon. Even with her booster drugs i am (so far) doing better than she did in terms of bloods and no delays. this may be me doing cell thing better naturally but i think it may also be psychological in terms of support?
Nobody from the hosp ever rang her post op/treatments. I had 3 calls in 12 days post op from breast care nurse and the oncology breast care nurse rings me roundabout day 10 post chemo.
i may be lucky in where i live but i think i am receiving a better service than my sis and she saved a whole 10 days overall.
the main difference where my sister does better than me is that she does have a husband who loves her. i don’t. She is a fortunate woman.
Take care
j
my sis always just walked in and saw whoever/had treatment, i have had to wait. i always expected to wait and take a book
its so interesting to read all your comments. It would be interesting if they did a survey of survival rates for NHS v Private.
I am being treated in a Shropshire for NHS treatment.
saw GP wed, appointment at hospital next Tuesday (9 days), had needle biopsy, mammogram, scan.
had lumpectomy 10 days later by local anaesthetic, received results 2 weeks later that I have BC. was booked in for following week to have WLE and nodes but cancelled this and went to a better hospital.
5 weeks after the lumpectomy I received the hormonal results after I phoned to find out if any results were back.
I am told by the first hospital that it will be about a further 3 weeks before I receive results of her2.
my new hospital, Birmingham are to do the nodes and WLE 11 April.
I have worked my whole life and paid in to NHS and now when I need them they are failing me.
keep well
chris
I have had all my treatment on the NHS. I was referred and seen within 14 days, had official diagnosis 2 weeks later after a core biopsy, surgery 1 week later, results 10 days later, then oncology appt 2 weeks after that. I saw the oncologist last week who was a registrar not a consultant but was nonetheless very approachable and got a planning appointment on Thursday for radiotherapy. All in all, I think I did very well in the system. I am sure I would have been able to choose my own consultant etc if able to go privately, but as I don’t know one from another, I was happy to have one chosen for me. Anyway, in my experience, the registrars often are younger and more in tune with the latest research than some of the much older consultants. I also got direct access to the oncologists secretary (I asked him for a direct number and he gave me it) who was brilliant. She got my appointment request sent through immediately and I received an appointment less than 48hrs after speaking with her. I guess I am just lucky??
Cathy
xx