To wish I could stop paying into the utterly broken NHS black hole

YABU. you’d want the NHS if you had a bad car accident tomorrow. And you would have definitely got your moneys worth having two kids.

I'm sorry about your diagnosis and poor treatment but you certainly do not pay about a weeks wages every month twoards the NHS . If you earn 30k you are not a net contributor.

I competent understand why you're fuming, given your history of cancer and the close call. I'd be engaging my local MP and getting advice on how to get a second nhs opinion.

YANBU. You will get a host of shouty NHS diehards on here telling you that you should be grateful for what you get, and how very dare you have any other option, but the truth is we are paying more and more for a rapidly deteriorating service because the system is irretrievably broken. Having experienced an excellent and affordable healthcare system that is insurance-based in another country, I had my eyes opened to how much better and proactive healthcare could be, and how much we have been brainwashed into lauding the NHS regardless of our poor experiences. There are undoubtedly some excellent people in the NHS, but the service has not kept pace with rapidly changing needs of the UK population over the past 30 years or so.

Also, early detection of cancers is a particular nhs weak point at the moment.

I’m so sorry, it must be very stressful and utterly crap. The NHS is broken, I understand your anger and frustration.

under the "care" of people I wouldn't usually trust to look after a dog

Ouch.

I don’t think that you are being unreasonable. You deserve good care and you don’t seem to have got it. I can imagine that it’s very scary for you and your family.

The only way to make things change is to keep reporting them. You shouldn’t put up and shut up or feel lucky to have a system that hasn’t helped you.

Fwiw I said ouch as an nhs nurse. I understand that some staff are awful but some of us are ok! We aren’t immune from receiving bad treatment either. I don’t expect that helps in the slightest but needed to say that some of us really do care!

I’ve just been on the 12 week pathway (thankfully the biopsy was negative), can’t complain at all, I was seen fast, by highly qualified people, and had a great standard of care.

Speaking as someone who had to sell their house to avoid becoming wheelchair bound recently I'm with you. And sick to the back teeth of people telling us it's ok and we should be grateful, or we got our moneys worth having two kids etc etc.

Either we have a state funded healthcare system or we don't. Not bothered either way tbh but if we do then it should be good enough for us not to have to pay twice. If we don't, then super, I'll save my NI and again pay just the once. And before anyone starts with the other common rhetoric seen on here, I did live and work in the US when I was younger and I was involved in an RTA that nearly killed me. I got the best healthcare I've ever had and no-one asked me for my credit card details before I was put in the ambulance, not least because I was unconscious. No-one even mentioned paying until some hours later in the hospital when they'd saved my life and ensured I'd live, and then we had the conversation about insurance which covered everything. I even got my taxi fares to my daily physio covered. You are most definitely not being unreasonable!

YABU. you’d want the NHS if you had a bad car accident tomorrow.

I'm sure that's a great comfort to the OP under the circumstances.

You'd be better off paying for a private health care subscription once you've got your current issue sorted.

You are not being unreasonable. Our BUPA cover through work is worth £1000s to us as a family every year.

This x 100.

The NHS is broken, and I say that as staff. I don't appreciate your dig at lack of care. Most of us are trying to do the best we can with a lack of resource and shitty systems (your gynaecologist, for one).

Yanbu, currently dealing with cancer and the only reason it was looked at was because I went private, nhs gps kept saying I was anxious about nothing at all and I felt crazy tbh. went private to get it looked at as I was worried I was actually some kind of mental health crisis, which I wasn’t.

It is true though, the amount of tax OP pays wouldn't cover the cost of treatment, so ultimately access to emergency treatment is worth the cost.

25% of your income goes towards the NHS? Really? 🤔

I've had some great nhs treatment - but it's all fine if you're the standard case or fit within the defined protocols. Op clearly doesn't and saying 50 percent chance it's ok to someone who has had cancer isn't good enough is it?

I understand why you're feeling abandoned, but a private healthcare model is not some great panacea and it would cost a lot for individuals.

We need to fix the NHS, not destroy it.

I'm not so sure. I don't see how it's salvageable. A private model might cost more but if the care was better, it would arguably be worth it?

I've never understood that change to smear tests.

Well, I understand it's to save money, but other than that..

I'm sorry. At least you are on the ball and getting it dealt with.

Private healthcare won't cover pre existing conditions so not suitable for OP.

Which was why I said 'after' her current issues are resolved.

I'm with you, OP. I wish that people would understand that the healthcare system is not a binary choice of NHS OR American-style system. No-one wants American-style healthcare.

But look at the fantastic systems in other countries. France. Australia. Austria. I would be more than happy to have a system where people paid top-ups for insurance to cover private care, but where those with low incomes or on benefits still had access to Medicare or similar.

As it is, I'm fortunate that I have private healthcare, but I still live in dread of ever having to go to A&E.

I'm so sorry you're having to wrangle this. The NHS screening going from cell changes to HPV is an absolute fucking joke.

I agree OP. I get free private health through work and I wouldn’t take a job now that didn’t offer it.

We’re always being told that the NHS is the envy of the world. It probably was once but now it’s utterly broken.

I’m also fed up of hearing how underfunded it is. We pump nearly every 200 billion into it each year and it’s just squandered. I can’t even get a face to face GP appointment.

Too many need it. Not enough are paying into it. The money it receives is wasted.

You said it better than I could.