RevCat - I am not on a high income and like (everyone on here?) I get it free though work and don’t pay for private treatments.
I’m not having poorer BCN provision; I could even ring her at home if I’m distressed as she gave me her mobile number.
My local NHS Trust (and I know it extremely well as I work in it when I’m well) is one of the ones featured in the media as the one of those that gives out more parking fines/clamps than any other - the parking is horrendous and hideously expensive. Staff can’t get parked at work easily - I pay £1,500 a year just to park nearby - it would cost me £15 a day to park at work if I could find a space at all. The hosp car park machines don’t give change or take notes so I’d need to find 15 pound coins every day to go to work. Public transport to work isn’t possible.
So yes, free car parking, for me, is a very important financial aspect.
SSP and paying excessive amounts to park my car for treatment would also put me into the ‘struggling’ category.
Hang on a second Rev. Although these people have paid for private health insurance, and opted to receive private care, they have also paid tax and insurance presumably, so why shouldn’t they be entitled to NHS care as well ?.
From my point of view if people who can afford to pay for their treatment, that means the NHS can use it’s limited resources to treat people like me who can’t afford private healthcare. The idea that it’s all or nothing, doesn’t make financial sense.
Thanks Lemongrove. As I said earlier, I do pay part towards my private medical insurance each year and have been doing so for thirty years … so feel its time to use it …no point having it otherwise. And yes, I had to pay for my prosthesis and my wig. But like Ninja said, I also have a leading consultant and a leading oncologist in Breast Cancer in the UK, and I see them … not a registrar, and have access to them at all times. I also have a brilliant BCN and her mobile number and have a nurse in the chemo unit who just looks after me.
I’m by no means loaded, but like I say, wouldn’t you use it if you’d been paying part for it for so long??
By the way Lemongrove, a letter from the Department of Health tells me that NI contributions 'pay towards future cash entitlement to state benefits and retirement pensions. The NHS is funded mainly from general taxation, with only a small proportion of funding coming from NI". I have been paying tax for over 32 years!
Thanks for those thoughts - I understand better where you’re coming from, and can see your viewpoint, even if I stand by what I said. This thread began as something about BCNs which is why I commented on that.
I’m sorry if I implied that I think everyone with private healthcare is super wealthy, I certainly don’t.
Thank you for being gracious enough not to yell at me (at least visibly ).
Hope all goes well for you and that you do (continue to)get the support you need however it’s funded.
Can I just throw up the question re private health cover. Would those that have cover via their work continue with it if they left service?
The reason why I am asking is that I had cover for my diagnosis and treatment from 8 years ago through my husbands employer(good old Woolies!). On their demise luckily my employer offered it and I continued with Bupa. In February this year I decided that after 37 years of full time work I needed a break,needed some me time so I left my job.
Anyway I carried on paying for my Bupa, had to have an excess to get the premium down. I realise that I probably wouldn’t get any other insurance company to cover me if I stopped and restarted at a later date, or a premium I could afford.
I have always seen copies of the bills but the fee that one of my consultants charges for a 5 minute consultation is beginning to more than annoy me.
At the moment yes I would carry it on, I’ve had excellent support from the insurance company and can’t sing their praises high enough. If I had the choice I would definitely carry it on. I already have to pay an excess so that wouldn’t worry me particularly.
You may only see him/her for 5-20 minutes at a time, but s/he will also attend MD meetings each week where you are discussed, be on-call for any probs in the chemo room, write letters for tests, send copies to your GP etc etc. These are not charged for but are included in the consultation fees. Unlike solicitors, they do not charge extra for every single hour spent in preparation or letter writing.
I’m going to try to get reduced hours when I go back to work; been trying for 18 months but have more ammo now. If they won’t let me, then I’ll have to stop work as it’s too strenuous now. Then I won’t be able to afford to take the AXA on by myself.
I’ll ad my 2 penn’orth; I have private health care but due to my geographic location (Aberdeen) and the choices made by the oncologists here, there is only 1 breast surgeon who works privately, and no bc oncologist - so choice doesn’t come into it.
I was unfortunate in that in my ‘annus horribilis’ 2009 I needed about 40 nights in hospital due to septicemia and other complications. My mental health is such I cannot cope with a ward environment, and each time I had to use what strength I had to fight for a private room, even involving the liasion psychiatrist at one point to convince them on the oncology ward that despite my temperature of 104 I would walk (crawl more like!) if not given the privacy I need.
Had I been able to make use of the prvate hospital I’d have had none of this extra aggro I did not need. Saying that, I generally cannot fault the treatment I had on the NHS - I had a few problems with one ward when I needed a blood transfusion which the day staff didn’t get round to giving me so 2 packs of blood were wasted and the night staff eventually did it 4 nights later when the doctor kicked up merry hell it hadn’t been done - this gave me a very disturbed night I could have done without for no real reason.
Also a very stroppy night nurse when my gall bladdder exploded due to the septicemia (due to Hickman line) who didn’t respond to my calling out - I was in too much pain to move to the bell - until someone else went to get her - her response when she arrived was I was OK when she’d done her rounds 20 minutes ago why was I making a fuss? Anyone who’d had exploding gall bladder will know the pain comes on big time just like that! She finally tried to get me morphine - the ward had run out! - and then came back with moprphine but set up for cannula injection - I had no cannula due to vein problems - joy!!
This isn’t a dig at NHS but just an illustration of why some people prefer to go privately if they can.
Yes I would continue my insurance, if I could afford to pay for it. It has made a huge difference, mostly positive (but not all - see above!). For me the most important factor was that it brought me the privacy of a private room when I was dealing with one of the most difficult things in my life so far. To have to cope with that on an open ward with everyone knowing everyone else’s business would fill me with horror. I know it’s what most people have to put up with and I felt very fortunate that I didn’t have to. The other main factor was knowing I was going to see the consultant and the oncologist each time, and not a series of registrars.
Hazelmary, I don’t have private cover, but if I did, I would carry on with it, because there are a number of treatments that private health insurers pay for that Primary Care Trusts will not fund.
For example, if you didn’t have private cover and (God forbid), you developed secondary cancer and were referred for stereotacic radiotherapy you would currently find it very difficult to get a PCT to pay for it, as only 28 out of 150 PCT’s fund stereotactic radiotherapy. There are also various drugs that are available privately, and again many PCT’s do not fund these.
Having said that, I believe the quality of treatment I have received in the NHS has been superb, and I suspect the same in the private sector would have cost a fortune, and most insurers would have balked. For example my NHS Consultant is also a senior consultant at a leading Harley Street Oncology Clinic and Professor of Oncology (and like my private counterparts, I can Email him at any time). When I had my mastectomy/lymph node clearance, I was put in a private room, and as I have particular dietary requirements, I was asigned a dietician who visited me every day to work out menu’s etc.
I have since had chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and before treatment commenced I was offered overnight accomodation (which I declined). After that, I was referred for stereotactic radiotherapy for skull metastases, and because my local PCT refused funding, my treatment was paid for by charity. Throughtout the entire period I have had access to two wonderful BCN’s, and I can telephone or emal them at any time.
On the whole I think that the NHS does a pretty good job with treating cancer. It was only because I needed to have my surgery on the other side of the country that I thought of my Bupa cover at all. My main concern is the postcode lottery that exists with certain things not being funded.
In my area, one of the main benefits of being with BUPA was getting Emend (antisickness) and Neulasta (keeps cell counts up with one jab) from day one on chemo - not funded as standard in the local PCT. I live 30 miles from the hosp and have to drive myself, so having chemo at home was great for me too.
However, Bupa didn’t fund the full cost of my recon. Cos of the hosp and Breast Cancer surgeonn I used, I didn’t have any choice in which PS did the recon (although I’m very happy and he’s done a fantastic job), while approved by Bupa, he’s not a consulting partner, so had to find £1,500!
DJ007 you spurred me on to check with my insurance company that my reconstruction is covered … and it is, as long as they get some kind of quote beforehand. And the tweakages to the other breast are also covered and a nipple… but it all has to be done within two years.
Hazelmary - I would definitely say continue with your insurance. My OH and I had this debate when we retired (we were covered by his employer not mine)and decided to go without other things to pay for cover, with a hefty excess. My, how glad we have been, as since retiring he has had a triple coronary bypass and I’ve had a stent and now treatment for bc. We’ve both also had experience of our local university NHS hospital and frankly, there’s no comparison with the private care we received, every aspect of which has been superb. When diagnosed (on a Thursday), I did briefly consider having treatment on the NHS because of its excellent reputation with cancer, but then found out there would be a six week wait for surgery at our local hospital (many wards closed because of norovirus outbreak, which I then caught when visiting a neighbour who was a patient there), whereas I had a wle privately on the following Saturday. I was also told there would be drugs and treatments available privately that the PCT might not pay for.
I have private health insurance but decided to go with the NHS, in fact 2 friends who work in NHS recommended it.
I think it depends a lot on which insurer you are with. Mine also wouldn’t fund all my recon, in fact one of the recons I was contemplating was going to leave me £2500 short . They couldn’t understand why the quote was so high. It really depended on which surgeon I got a quote from , whether they had a black mark by their name for over charging or not.it all got too stressful trying to work it out, they also would not pay for any complications from recon surgery making me go back into surgery even for medical reasons. I was allowed one tweak only to the other breast and as I didn’t know what to expect before the op anyway I just felt very stressed by the whole retrictive nature of it, thinking I might end up with a huge bill. I have had run ins with other private health companies before. The deciding factor was that I opted for Strattice recon and the private lot don’t even cover it.
I also, as a nice surprise got a cash payout from insurance to say thank you for not costing them as much by going NHS
I will admit that I have only had surgery so am coming from a very different angle. However the NHS were pretty damn good, even if the nurses forgot to do things sometimes! I am very pleased with the result and I am sure that couldn’t have been improved upon by going private.
I thought I would share my experience. I have BUPA cover and used it for my diagnosis, I then had my operation on the NHS as the microsurgery equipment required was not available in the private hospitals nearby. My experience in the NHS hospital was very positive, the unit was staffed by enthusiastic and caring nurses. I made friends with a lady who was in at the same time as me and I enjoyed the interaction with the other ladies in my 4 bed room. I then have mixed and matched, my BCN is NHS and she has asked me to keep her informed if I am having treatment private or NHS. I have opted for NHS chemo as the private hospital that would provide it is 45 mins away and to be honest if I have any complications I want to be at the hospital as quick as I can. I have seen my surgeons for follow ups at the private hospital which is much nicer, and BUPA also pay me each time I use the NHS. Luckily prescriptions are free in Scotland and also I have had a voucher for my wig. So although at times it has been a tricky coordination excercise it has gone smoothly up to this point (long may it continue). FYI today I was given an appointment for my port to be fitted by the NHS on the 24th and the private hospital can do it on the 31st. So NHS it is. I do without other things to afford the peace of mind my private insurance affords.
My PCT doesn’t like you swapping about - if you want part of your treatment via the NHS you have to get a new referral from your GP - potentially delaying treatment.
Toothfairy - interesting you mentioned that the appointment for the port was gonna take so much longer private… in my case, I asked the nurses for a port on the Wednesday, the surgeon rang me on my mobile on the Friday and it was all done by the following week… all private… so it must be down to areas, waiting lists and holidays I guess.
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