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

Yep - changing from proper smear tests to just an HPV check is flipping insane ….and make me fume too as I have also had part of my cervix removed due to previous changes. Far cheaper to give me a proper smear than a hysterectomy & possible chemo etc. We need to go to a better system - possibly like the French model.

Cancer treatment and diagnosis lags behind europe
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/news-and-resources/blogs/cancer-care-decades-behind

and to get to the cancer services which are apparently the best parts of the nhs with is something that is a struggle which some people end up going private for diagnosis, as demonstrated by several posters on this thread.

Actually, people who give birth in the UK and don’t have access to free NHS services are charged around £10k, which is similar to the cost of a private birth. So no clue where you got your number from but you are being ridiculous.

Gave up on the GP when I was in the UK and paid to go private. My partner had multiple GP appointments over about 6 years for an ongoing issue. It was cured with two courses of a £40 cream bought privately after a private consultation. The NHS caused years of unnecessary suffering with a relatively minor ailment that was easy and cheap to cure.

I get same day GP appointments with my overseas health provider. NHS just burns money. Incredibly inefficient

Cancer services are better than the rest of the NHS. Wait until you watch an elderly loved one die of neglect and in pain, or lose a child to suicide because MH staff are lying bullies.

You are welcome to pay for your own cancer treatment but I think you are in for a shock when the bill is far higher than the amount you think you have contributed

Improved funding??? No fuckin way. The NHS is a money pit. You could give it an extra 3 billion a month and the managers at the top would STILL find a way to squander it or syphon it off to pals.
It needs an in depth audit.

It absolutely isn't the same service! People maybe.

Yep. And most skin lesions on young people are fungal so keep sending them home with cream. Except for those that happen to be melanoma. Those guys are fucked, sadly.
It's a disgrace.

I'm sorry your going through this 💐
The NHS is indeed a gigantic money pit that has been incompetently run by well paid inepts for far too long. Pals giving pals contracts with their snouts in the nhs gravy train.
It really does need an honest, outside and comprehensive audit by a foreign company.
Good luck with your health issues 🫂 x

I agree the NHS is a bit broken. But I think you've come up against the problem I was actually really worried would happen when they introduced the HPV vaccine in the first place.

They have scaled back testing in order to save money because MOST cancers are HPV. Let's just forget about those that aren't because there are a small minority.

The problem the OP described isn't just a lack of funding though is it? Its a top down system with a one size fits all approach that is causing the problem here. No one seems able to take into account that past history, symptoms and abnormal cells means that there could be cancer even though there isn't an active HPV infection.

Care rationing is OK when it's things that really don't matter. You know, like drunk people in A&E or visiting the doctor for a cold.

But that's not what we're talking about here. People are actually dying or being left severely injured/disabled due to the lack of care.

Early treatment is the single most important determinant of survival and return to long-term health in many debilitating conditions. If people can't even get that, they've failed.

Also it would save a lot of money compared to the more aggressive and complex treatment needed when eventually caught... Penny wise, pounds foolish.

Why are you so resistant to accepting that more needs, less funds = payment needed? What is your problem with the model of so many of our European neighbours?

I'm all for reasoned arguments, debate etc but most people don't seem to do any thinking beyond 'it should be free' and 'omg USA bankruptcy'.

Yes the NHS is not the best at the moment and I'm really hoping it will get better until then I've took out private health for my family very fortunate that we can I know.
But I think your math is way off.

Completely agreed.
We have a two tier 'private by stealth' system now because nobody has the ducking balls to do anything about it! It makes me so angry.
Free treatment on paper but it's so shit that you'll end up dying or severely disabled/injured unless you can pay.

Agreed on the USA also but that aside we don't need to look far... The Nordic utopia, even France, Germany etc so many have some form of paid healthcare. And they have much better access than us.

As a high earner I'd much rather pay into state health insurance than do pay twice, as I do now. Once for tax/NI and also private insurance.

My reply absolutely makes sense. You took issue with OP mentioning lack of care, and said she should blame other things. I have pointed out that lack of care is absolutely an issue that can and should be pointed out.

If you earn £30K you will be paying about £300 per month in tax. The NHS receives around 20% of tax revenue and so you are contributing £60 per month, £720 per year.
I agree that no-one should put up with incompetent care but NHS care has to be rationed in some way - there is simply rising need, rising morbidity, ageing population, underfunding, inability to retain good staff because of intolerable pressures. The idea is a difficult one that some care needs to be rationed in order to ensure that priority needs are met - someone has to make difficult decisions about access to screening or what diagnostic tests are needed. None of that is any excuse for rudeness or incompetence but please see the bigger picture.

Rude and entitled for expecting to be seen with possible cancer? Wow your standards must be pretty bloody low

Sorry for what you’re going through and I completely agree that with your symptoms and medical history and your genuine concern you should be offered further testing for peace of mind.

At risk of missing the point entirely though, someone who earns £30K pays less than £3.5K of income tax each year and less than £2K of NICs (which theoretically goes towards your state pension not the NHS). This is a very low tax burden compared to historical statistics.

I’d recommend looking at health insurance or finding a job with good benefits including health insurance.

You're angry at the wrong people. Very rude about a service which is actually free. You are paying taxes like everyone else not peoples wages don't sound so entitled. Campaign for improved funding and restoration of staffing levels etc.
if you had a totally private service remember it's the same staff and services only you pay.

And todays Tory party propaganda thread is..........

Your response makes no sense in reply to my post. I said 'most of us' are doing our best. I didn't say everyone. You're speaking to someone who works within the system. I'm fully away of the competence issues. We have a lot of incompetent staff, worsened by recruitment and retention issues.

It can be rubbish. I’m waiting on test results and medics in the family have quietly suggested they’d give me cash to go private as genuinely concerned. The costs of private care are phenomenal though. Just the tests and the treatment I’ve had so far would be 5-10k.

I think overall it’s a good system. My dc needed surgery on a broken bone a few years ago. Six months later I needed surgery on a broken bone. I think if I’d of had to pay for the care For us both I’d of lost the house/ been made bankrupt.

I really don’t want a system where people are losing their homes due to medical bills.

As a nhs worker we know it’s not amazing but for the amount of funding it’s actually pretty bloody good. Years of underfunding, no investment in infrastructure, expensive gimmicks in tech and fiascos like the consultants taper and annual allowance (there are hundreds of consultants who are cutting hours/can’t offer extra as it would cost them thousands in salary and pension loss so would effectively be paying to work).

Now the cracks are being papered with poorly trained ‘associate’ type staff it’ll only get worse. The people that say they’d rather pay their contribution directly into private health seem to forget that private health is relatively cheap in this country because the NHS does the rest. Take that away and you can times your nhs contribution by 10 at least.

i will say there is a lot of work needing to be done to better identify and diagnose women who are often misdirected away as hysterical/anxious etc.

Lastly, OP in your case with symptoms (anyone, not just previous cancer) a smear would be inappropriate as it’s a screening tool not a diagnostic test. You should have had an urgent referral to gynae (but in some regions even urgent referrals are at 1-2 years).

I want the French health care system where you pay a little bit to see a GP. It sounds amazing and far better than here as does their pension scheme. In France we would have had an amazing time in retirement. I think that my husband is short changed. I don’t understand how they afford to do things so much better and we are a mess here.

My uncle got sepsis and my ex nurse aunt found the nurses faking his obs when he was deteriorating. Had to go all the way up the chain and raise hell in order for him to receive proper care. Had she not been there he 100% would have been killed. So there is absolutely a problem with lack of and substandard care.