Hi all,
My girlfriend has a painful lump in her breast for a few weeks. the lump is hard and painful. She was directed to see a GP in the university of Reading who told us that the lump is unlikely to be breast cancer after the first meeting. The GP gave her some pain-killing prescription and said it may disappear after a few days but it hasn’t. The lump is still there and so is the pain. She came back to see the GP again but the GP insisted that there has been some progress. We asked the GP to refer her to a breast cancer specialist but it might take more than 2 or 3 weeks.
I am really worried and I want to take her to take a breast cancer test somewhere earlier to ensure that there is no problem.
Can anyone recommend a good place for it in Reading or London? We are students so we can’t afford to pay a lot of money for it.
I think that you should insist on a referral by gp to breast clinic, as you are probably aware most lumps are not cancerous & most are not painful but a referral would put your girlfriends mind at rest, also am pretty sure that the guidelines are that once referred you should be seen within 2 weeks by clinic.
2 weeks referral time is usual in the NHS for a breast clinic referral and wouldn’t make a difference to the clinical outcome. Self Referral to a private one stop clinic is expensive, consultants charge around £150 for a consult and diagnostic tests like FNA, imaging and core biopsies quickly mount up costs. Get your GP to make a referral to your hospital’s breast clinic so that your friend can get checked out. X
Insist on being referred by gp The Nice guidelines says anyone referred to a breast clinic should be seen within 2 weeks ( not because of the outcome because of the waiting time )I would see if there is a one stop clinic ( nhs ) where they do all the tests and you get the results the same day ( as waiting for results is emotionally torturous) Please go back and even see a different Gp in the group It probably will turn out to be benign and nothing to worry about but you need peace of mind xxx Julie
Worrying as it is, please try not to panic too much. Most lumps are not cancerous. It sounds like the GP has decided to watch and wait as possibly he/she thinks it might be hormone related.
I would do as the others have advised and say that your girlfriend is too stressed to wait and see and could you please be referred to a specialist. What you could do is ask the GP to tell you 1) it is definitely not cancer 2) what exactly it is. They won’t have the specialist knowledge to do this and that might push the referral. A wait of 2 weeks is right and some women on here have waited longer.
To go privately you’re probably looking at about £100 to £180 for a consultation and the more on top for tests. You would probably still need a GP referral though. It may make it a little quicker but probably only a week or so. Most of us on here went NHS and waited the two weeks which I actually think is quite quick.
Perhaps your girlfriend could see a different GP in the practice?
take care and I hope it’s good news for your girlfriend.
Hi I would agree 2 weeks is unlikely to make a difference physically,the mental strain of waiting and worrying is horrible though.My GP would only refer me as non urgent she said my symptoms didn’t present as breast cancer(really),she said I would probably have to wait 6/8 weeks I couldn’t wait that long so I went for a private consultation.I had mammogram,biopsy and X Ray and two meetings with consultant this cost me nearly a thousand pound, this was 3 years ago so maybe cost more now.I would take a 2 week referral.
and as others have said most lumps are not cancer.
I can only ditto what others have said regarding the national 14-day referral standards. Unless your girlfriend is a mature student, I would strongly suspect that the GP would assume that she’s far too young to fit into a BC statistical group and that’s may be why the GP won’t do the normal referral.
Is Reading/London your girlfriends ‘home’ or is she perhaps still registered elsewhere - where she can perhaps see someone else. Otherwise, is there another doctor in the practice at the Uni
Hi Triduc
There is a specialist breast diagnosis clinic in Windsor The Parapet at King Edward 7 hospital ( not sure if the mods will remove this)but it is easy distance from Reading and your G-f needs reassurance as do you. Can she ask her GP to refer her there?Surely no need to go private for this. Hope this is helpful Jackie xx
Despite the 47,700 breast cancer cases now being diagnosed, as per the recent release from CRUK, I hear a statistic last week, also, that “many GPs will only see one or two breast cancer cases a year!” I found this odd and then found out that in a census dated 2005 there was 35,300 GPs. That’s less than one each, if you like stats!!! I don’t!! Seeing so few would make me want to see a second GP ASAP but two weeks is within “guidelines.” Something that some breast cancer charities are trying to get reduced because of anguish.
I wish you well, most cases are ok. I would call BCC direct or Macmillan for guidelines but I thing their hands will be tied by the ridiculous two week rule.
I think the problem is one of resources once the referral is made. Think of the number of people actually diagnosed and then those that don’t have breast cancer and then think of all the referrals they are dealing with.
I had a huge lump (8cm x 6cm) which came up very suddenly when I was put on HRT (that I didn’t actually need as it transpired I wasn’t menopausal then) and I still had to wait 2 weeks. It’s horrible waiting but that’s why it’s important to get the referral done asap.
I will take all the suggestion written before mine by asking your GP to refer your friend to a good one stop breast
care clinic for mammogram and ultra sound (NHS) and you will get your result
the same day.
Theboyz5 x.
MAake your Gf feel calm and relaxed. becaus GP knows a little bit better then you and your gf He will refer you soon if their is any kind of problem he will see in her lump.