Please read this before you knock the NHS

[Helpmeoutforamoment]

My sister has stage 3 cervical cancer. She has, so far had amazing treatment, but we don't know if it's in remission yet. If it's not, she will probably not have any more treatment. Not because she doesn't want it, but because she lives in the USA. She has a good healthcare insurance plan through a government agency. She has to pay 20% of the costs herself. How much are those costs? Well her 20%, in just 3 months is $45,000.

I know the NHS can be shit at times, but my sister may lose her life and her home because she got cervical cancer and can't afford to pay for care. She is 36.

It's heartbreaking. The NHS isn't perfect but at least we don't need to worry about paying and debt when we get I'll. well not for medical treatment anyway.

Healthcare payments is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US.

Can she not retun to the UK?

Sorry you're all going through this.

I’m very sorry for your sister but the reason we have in some places quite abysmal care is because a lack of challenge about some aspects of the NHS.

There is a vast difference between knocking the NHS and wanting the US model, I hope your sister pulls through. but using her for a political stand point is bit meh considering the narrative has changed somewhat

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64279654

We are not America.

I agree, compared with the USA we are bloody lucky …but we have shocking cancer statistics compared with European countries and most of the problem is around prompt diagnosis/timely tests and treatment which results in needless deaths…..and part of the problem is our lack of challenge of the status quo as we are taught from an early age to be “grateful” for the nhs rather than seeing good healthcare provision as the mark of a civilised (& relatively wealthy)society. In my hospice work I often saw patients who had fallen through the cracks in our system ,often because of omissions in primary and preventative health care. Our USA family were shocked that our family member died from bowel cancer as if you do have insurance over there you are likely to be offered regular colonoscopies after a certain age.

we have shocking cancer statistics compared with European countries and most of the problem is around prompt diagnosis/timely tests and treatment which results in needless death

DP has been waiting for radiotherapy for stage 4 cancer for 4 months so far, and still no start date. He doesn’t stand a chance. I’ve always praised the NHS before and said how lucky we are to have it, not any more.

She may not have received treatment on time here either way.

My dad died while waiting for treatment to begin, 11 months after being found to be ill. That's the reality of the NHS over the last few years. People are dying before treatment event starts, dying waiting for ambulances, and dying due to not being diagnosed as they cannot get appointments.

I'm so sorry to read about your sister.
I was diagnosed with 3C2 Cervical Cancer last February, started Chemo in March every 3 weeks, then Chemo, Radiotherapy and Brachytherapy for 6 weeks from July.
I can't praise our NHS enough, especially the staff at the Beatson Centre.
My tumour is gone and I'll now have 6 monthly scans for 3 years, I can't imagine how you and your family must be feeling just now, there is a lot wrong in the UK just now even in the NHS in general, I know I've been very lucky.
I'll keep your sister in my thoughts.

This is why the nhs is in such a state because people are meant to just be so grateful it’s free. No no no- it’s a broken system, children waiting for important surgeries and referrals- it’s a
mess.

I should add that my sister had been going to different specialisms about her symptoms for years, but no one put two and two together as she was never seen by a general practitioner, so her headaches (which turned out to be hormonal) were investigated by a neurologist, her stomach pains by a gastroenterologist, etc.

But none of the were interested in the whole person, just the part that they were looking at. So she had her bowels screened and her head scanned, it wasn't until I suggested that maybe the reason they couldn't find her headache cause was because it was related to her hormones and maybe also the fact that she was bleeding all the time, that she went to a gynaecologist and this was found.

@Justanotherlurker I'm not using her for a political point, I'm using her as an example of why we shouldn't aspire to have a private healthcare system.

@2022again I agree it's not great and needs to change, but at least we aren't bankrupted by being ill, and not being able to afford treatment.

@FutureUncertain I'm so sorry to hear that, have you emailed the CEO?

I’m sorry for her illness.

You can’t know things would have been picked up quicker in the U.K.

And it’s perfectly possible and reasonable to complain about the NHS even though things may be bad elsewhere. It’s not free, it’s not solely staffed by angels, it’s not a sacred cow.

We all pay for it. Parts of it are not up to scratch. The staff are human which means great people, alright people, some fucking dreadful people.

Lives are being lost every day in pain and with no dignity due to how badly bits are being run.

You are using your personal tragedy for political points. You could have posted about your sister and the travesty of US healthcare without lecturing U.K. posters for having and using the right to raise concerns about our own system.

No one’s saying it’s the US system or the NHS with its many current issues. Other options are available and far superior to both.

Can I hop in, having only read maybe 10 responses, and say we're absolutely okay with our slow response/ late diagnosis NHS service? If we weren't we wouldn't have voted for Brexit which lost us so many good EU staff; replaced by untrained Africans (I don't even try to soften this assertion, anymore); then voted for the low/tax; light-touch (but we've created so many more millionaires!) Tories.

USA is far worse, obvs, but we need to understand why we don't have a better (less-than-perfect, but functional) European health service.

It's nothing to do with proving a political point. It's a statement of facts. If you have a cancer diagnosis in the UK, then you won't be bankrupted by it. I don't care about your politics, I care about equal access to healthcare.

Personally, I think your sister was very lucky to be diagnosed and treated in the US. Her cancer may not have been diagnosed in the UK before becoming terminal.