Totally agree with msmolly and topsymo.
Maureen
What do you think BCC?
For me this board should be used for support and information on breast cancer and political/activist threads have no place here.
You’d think that an encounter with cancer would make people more politically engaged, not less.
How on earth do they think things happen in this world?!
Health and politics are inextricably entwined.
The fact that we are all NHS end-users and the cancer charities spend huge amounts of money and effort lobbying MPs over health policy seems to pass some people by.
Some patients are quite happy to accept the way things are in cancer care without ever acknowledging the battles that had to be waged in order to get to that point.
But they will of course be THE FIRST to whinge when their mammogram programme is scrapped or their BCNs are made redundant or reconstruction ops are stopped.
Yet they will still tell you that BC has nothing to do with politics.
It is perfectly ok to let someone else be an advocate for the BC cause. But if you are currently reaping the benefits of what the NHS has done for you, then it is pretty galling to try and silence those actually trying to do something to protect NHS treatment for ourselves and future generations.
Projectwoman, totally agree with your post
I think that it is good that the forum recognises that we are thinking, whole women who are not only bc patients.As ‘they’ say we may have breast cancer but breast cancer does not have us.Any group sometimes wants to discuss something which is not exclusively about the common topic.Anyone who doesnt want to join in can read another thread-no problem.
Valx
I assume this thread is because I posted about the Save our NHS rally on the 17th May…
I want to assure people that I’m not party political, but I am interested in the NHS, because I’m a cancer patient. If people don’t want to know about these things, just don’t read my posts.
Also Projectwoman, re your quote: “There are campaigns that we can and should get behind, but my argument is that these should not be directly aligned to one political view”. If you look at the article I mentioned you will see that it is supported by people across the political spectrum.
I would probably agree with you projectwoman if the post under discussion was party political. However, I think,as Lemongrove has said, that it is a protest supported across the political spectrum and is in defence of probably the most important public service.
I have already seen a deterioration in service. My hospital has cut the chemo dept from 5 days to 4 days which has caused chaos, long waits and added distress. From this month it’s being cut to 2 days a week - goodness only knows how we’ll all cope!
The NHS is important to us all. I think it only right to ‘advertise’ actions we can take to preserve that service, that’s what I think the demo is about, not anti Tory but pro NHS and as I owe my life to the NHS I’m all for supporting and protecting it.
Julie
Perhaps the people who think the NHS is a political irrelevance are all private patients. That is the only reason I can think of for such complacency.
I have been awake all night with steroids and had already planned my posting. Spooky when I read the above!
I am having private breast cancer care treatment and yes I think it is different to what some of you ladies are going through, and I feel quite guilty at times. But I have to accept that I am just fortunate enough to have private care. BUT I still need the NHS, my family need the NHS, my friends need the NHS. WE ALL NEED THE NHS!!! So lets make sure we keep it.
Thank you Adi. As you say so wonderfully, we all need the NHS - and that is why I posted about the rally.
I’m truly not interested in party politics.
I think it’s great that people on this forum are battling for things which will make a difference to all us bc bods and others. I don’t keep up to date with information and am grateful to those who do and post up links to research, nhs changes and so on.
Politics don’t come into it…it’s just fighting for the best for all of us. As long as it is relevant to bc and the services we are offered, post it!!
Apologies Lemongrove I had seen this an anti- government protest, and Party political - I am sorry if I have got this wrong- perhaps you could share with us the key arguments, and how the protest group would like to see changes develop?
I am certainly not anti NHS and can’t think where anyone got that idea in my postings! As Adi said, we all need it! I am however keen for the bits that don’t work well e.g. care of older patients, and some of the conditions on some general wards to be improved having had some devasting experiences of this with my own family in recent years. I have also seen the NHS at it’s best - bit we shouldn’t just want to retain a status quo.
Sadly I don’t think anyone is offering the answers on how we can really make things better at the moment - unless you have better information?
It’s OK PW. I was not being party political at all. I posted because I feel that as Cancer patients it is in all our interests to have a strong health service.
The County I live in (Sussex), was the first to implement the Governments health reforms, and already it is having a serious impact on health services. The chemo unit at our local hospital is now open only twice a week, and staffing in the radiotherapy unit has been reduced so much that they are having to send patients to the Marsden in Surrey.
I find it quite sad that some feel these issues are not suitable for a cancer forum.
Lesley
Hi everyone
A couple of people have asked for BCC’s view on this issue. I didn’t jump in earlier because I was really interested to see what other people thought about it before I posted.
As an organisation, we do sometimes use the forum to let people know about the campaigns we’re involved in and forum members do get involved in health/cancer-related campaigning and are often interested in finding out about such campaigns. We wouldn’t allow the forum to be used by people who are not affected by breast cancer purely to promote their campaigns (and we wouldn’t be keen on anyone who just joined the forum to push a particular agenda/campaign).
However, posts about relevant campaigns, made by people who are members of the Breast Cancer Care forums, are fine by us - as long as the discussion is conducted respectfully and politely, as this one has been.
Politics can be a delicate area and we’d ask people to be sensitive to the fact that not everyone will agree or want to be involved.
I hope that helps.
Leah
Thank you Leah.
If people are not interested in politics, or in reading other people’s points of view, or participating in discussions may I politely suggest that they simply avoid this area of the forum.
My other half is a person who says he is not’political’ but I think he sees this as knowing about politicians and political party views.However he has just been made redundant due to ‘restructure’ in his company i.e. saving money. if he had stayed he would be doing four peoples jobs !! I digress (sorry).I see politcal as having an allegiance to a political party or politician. I am usually a quiet person but get roused when i see unfairness or injustice not just nationally but in everyday life.I agree that if we do not stand up for what we believe in or challenge injustice nothing will ever change. Since the early 1980’s i have seen a shift away from people doing this. We are all more self centred and want to protect ourselves from job and other uncertainties.This is not a judgement on us all just an observation.Many people have very little interest in 'politics’and anything contraversial in a so called ‘political’ way is seen as bad. This is a great change from years gone past when people where proud of this title. i do see that all political parties these days seem all the same so can see why others become disillusioned. The NHS affects us all and needs to be supported and challenged. I am right behind you on this ms molly.
Rachy
I know I said on my first posting that I would not make another on this subject but following LeahBCC’s posting I feel that I must respond.
Firstly, the March promoted was called “Kill Lansley’s Bill” organised by the Coalition of Resistance, which clearly from the roll call on the link provided is of a very specific political persuasion. Therefore this is not a campaign but a political protest march which will be heavily promoted in the media up to the march.
Secondly, I do not agree that the “debate” has been respectful. As one of those that do not think the BCC forum is a place for this kind of thing I have been accused of:
- Accepting the way things are in cancer care
- Would be the first to moan if their mammogram programme was scrapped
- Happy to reap the benefits of what the NHS has done for me
- I think the NHS is a political irrelevance and therfore must be a private patient
- I am complacent
I find these comments insulting in the extreme particularly as the person making these very incorrect assumptions knows nothing of my circumstances.
It is for this reason alone that I beleive this type of inflamatory discussion (always peppered with cries of censorship, dictating to others etc etc) should be discouraged from the forum.
DaisyGirl
Agree with you ms molly
The NHS is an intergral part of goverment whatever the political banner of the goverment at the time. A goverment was responsible for its inception back in 1948
I had all my initial treatment privately, though of course I went to an NHS GP when i first found a lump , i had health insurance, some of that private treatment took place in NHS hospitals. My treatment cost in excess of £80,000 I hope by having insurance I saved the NHS some money, also the private organisations using the NHS facilities would have paid the NHS for this. The NHS touches all of us and our families at some point in our lifes
I am now in the NHS system and thank goodness its there and i for sure will be waving a banner to make sure the NHS is supported
r
DaisyGirl, as the comments you have quoted are all mine it behoves me to respond. (Although it is with some reluctance as this kind of thing invariably derails interesting discussions.) My comments were not directed at you or any other specific individual. That you have chosen to interpret them personally is unfortunate. I can assure you there was no malicious intent. I was simply expressing my opinion in an area of this website called YOUR VIEWS.
I care greatly about health advocacy and I am increasingly alarmed by the number of people who cannot (or will not) join the dots between their experience as cancer patients and “politics”.
I am very pleased that BCC are not caving in over this issue.
It would spell the death of this open forum if groups were allowed to dictate acceptable content.
I trust BCC moderators to look after this site for the benefit of all. We don’t need forum users to police it too.
May I say again - if people find topics “inflammatory” or upsetting or not to their taste - then don’t read it. Don’t post on it. Ignore it. Simples!
Ms molly, saddened but not surprised by your response, which pretty much underlines my comments.