My sister got diagnosed with bc a year after me. I went to India to see her. I wasnot expecting care to the standards of nhs.The healthcare funding is based on insurance.I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of health care.I work in the nhs ,therefore I was able to compare it as a patient and also healthcare professional.The difference I saw was,bc diagnosed on the same day as finding the lump,patients operated within a week of diagnosis ,patients given a choice of intravenous access.for chemotherapy…peripheral iv line or central venous access…ofcourse with professional advice especially when the veins are crap.All the investigations including CT scan,bone scan done within 2-3 days of ordering.As a bc patients I believe we all deserve the best treatment.I know that nhs has its strong points such as free health care to all…However if you ask me to pay a premium each year[£100 ponds a year] and get operated in a week and not wait for the investigations…I would prefer to pay.
The NHS is suffering from top-heavy management and over-interference from government. There are very good areas, but there is no doubt that there is a growing problem. It was always intended to be “free at point of service” but technically it is not free in that we all contribute through taxation.
One does have to ask if your sister was treated on state involvement, or whether there was a need to pay towards the cost of treatment?
I am feeling particularly sore about the NHS at the moment as my brother, who suffers a chronic degenerative condition of the nervous system only controlled by immuno-globulin once a month is now threatened with the treatment being ceased.
I found health care in India surprisingly good, it was great to be able to buy antibiotics from a chemist without having to see a doctor. the NHS in East London is dire, especially the London Hospital - do not go there unless someone beats you up or stabs or shoots you, then go there immediately as it is the best trauma hospital in london.
Otherwise avoid it like the plague. That and Newham General. It didn’t have a plague of locusts last year, it had a plague of house flies going in and out of sick patients’ mouths. That and mice running up and down in patients’ beds on one ward earlier in the year
Mole
Hi Ladies
Hope you don’t mind me butting in. First let me say that I have no experience of health care abroad, touch wood, my family have never been ill whilst abroad, although I was impressed that I could walk into a pharmacy in Spain and buy an inhaler for a fraction of the prescription cost in this country.
I had a stroke in 2004 which I am glad to say I recovered from completely and then dx with BC November last year. On both occasions, the treatment I recieved under the NHS wsa faultless. I was operated on within 2 weeks of dx which in itself only took a week, then went straight on to chemo with rads and herceptin planned. And yes,my local hospital has had a major finacial crisis, as have most NHS authorities.
I am very aware that its very much a postcode lottery from good old Jeremy Vine (radio 2 discussions) and from previous posts on this site I know that Derriford in Plymouth seems to have a poor reputation, but my care, which is a combination of 2 hospitals in Devon as been amazing. CT scans,Colonoscopy, echocardiogram and hospital stays have always been quick and complaint free.
This is wrong, in as much as every hospital across the UK should have the same treatment readily available to all patients especially for life threatening illnesses, but it is obviously not the case and I feel for anybody who does not recieve the correct level of care. When I had my stroke, I witnessed “old people” not getting the same level of treatment, purely because they are “too old” to respond positively.
Thats it - rant over & thanks for listening!!! Phoebe - I wish your brother all the best & hope that it works out OK for him in the end.
i too cannot fault the treatment i have received on the nhs. Diagnosis within 48 hours, bone liver and lung scans a week later, mastectomy 5 days later, path report within a week of mast, and chemo commenced 2 weeks after mast - a total of 27 days after initial diagnosis - not one area i could fault at all - i have never been so glad of the nhs
Hi all, It’s a postcode lottery. I have health insurance and 7 days after going to GP I had my first op. By the time I went for my bone scan three weeks after dx, I had undergone two operations (the 17mm tumour turned out to be 50mm and the lymph nodes were affected and had to be removed). In the waiting room for the bone scan
I met a former colleague, who had been dx 3 weeks before me. She was still undergoing tests. She had not had any treatment. She still had cancer, and all I had was cells wandering around. Whilst the nhs is good, the waiting would have done for me.
Having said all that, the nhs were BRILLIANT with my husband’s testicular cancer some 19 years ago. But the nhs then and the nhs now are two completely different beasts.
Sue x
Neelima that service sounds exceptionally good. My experience of of India (my husband comes from there) is that if you are monied you get excellent service out there but I wonder what proportion of the population could afford that. We need to remember too that £100 p.a. in India is quite large sum of money. We are not really comparing like for like.That sort of money would be equivalent to say 2-3 months pay for a driver in the town. The service is probably equal to what someone in this country paying for private health would get.
I have been treated for 18 years at the Royal Marsden and certainly would not fault the treatment I have had there under the nhs
dawnhc
I had treatment under BUPA, as I haven’t used the cover that’s been paid for over many years. Having DIEP reconstruction meant it had to be done at the main hospital, in a super-heated room for the first week, moving into a 4-bay ward, as NHS patients do. I believe I had a different team than on NHS, but that is no reflection on the competence of other surgeons. BUPA won’t pay the full cost of the recon as they could have found cheaper surgeons - the plastic surgeon did say they rarely pay the full amount. They seem to think DIEP an unnecessarily expensive option. The real difference is having chemo at the BUPA hospital, where there are just 5 bays, and for my first Epi on Friday I had the room to myself for 2 hours! The nurse said they ‘may’ see 15 patients in a day for chemo, compared to 50 in the big hospital - but rads will be done at the big one. All very relaxed, and I was more uptight about that than about surgery, so a good experience. Still my local hospital is a Breast Care Centre of Excellence and I would have been very confident with NHS treatment had I not had BUPA cover anyway. We are blessed to have the NHS.