Portacath not funded

Hi everyone,

While I was having my chemo the nurses had a lot of problems finding suitable veins and my arm got very sore.

I saw the oncologist at the hospital earlier this week and asked about
having a Portacath fitted, as I’d heard people saying how comfortable
they were during Herceptin treatment, compared to a Hickman line.
She got quite defensive and said the local PCT doesn’t fund these
automatically and she would have to put in a special funding
application. She didn’t sound very hopeful.

Has anyone else come across this and got any tips or suggestions?

Ali

I managed to get a portacath after i was told i got the two year arm of the Herceptin trial, I wrote to my local councillor who in turn wrote to the PCT, i got mine and thank god i did its so much easier than a Hickman Line and you hardly know its there besides a small bump under the skin, keep at em Ali dont let them fob you off i cannot believe this country is still using this archaic form of adminerstring drugs, Americans and most of Europe get a port from the start

Hi Nixxic,

Thanks for answering my query so quickly - that is useful to know. I’m due to have Herceptin from September for a year and I really want something that I can live with for that amount of time.

I’d be interested to know what other experiences people around the country have had?

Ali X