The wait for NHS test results is cruel and anxiety inducing

[Summortime]

I had a routine NHS mammogram a week ago. Was told up to three weeks wait for the result. I cannot believe this is considered acceptable. In USA for example you can get the result within the next couple of days. My American colleague was shocked that here in the UK we are just expected to wait.

My anxiety is sky high. I appreciate this is a problem I need to get help with but if results were given in days rather than weeks my anxiety would not be so bad. It is the waiting that’s the worst.

How in a so called first world country is a long wait for test results considered acceptable?

It’s a routine check and purely precautionary. The checks if you find a lump are booked mammogram and consultant appointment within 2 weeks and results same day. Even then, the percentage of patients with breast cancer from those appointments are 3% in my trust.

I agree we should push for better when there is a legitimate failure, of course. That's why we have PALS etc. But the OP is saying waiting for a routine scan review is 'cruel' - it's not. Yes, a tragedy is horrendous, whenever and wherever it happens. But we can't compare that to the OP's post or try to say that tragedies only happen here. It's just not true.

If people want the benefits of private health care, pay for it. The US health system has missed my family members stage 4 cancer despite happily billing them/insurance for all sorts of scans, tests, physio etc for YEARS. They are now terminal.

Bad outcomes happen everywhere.

Americans still pay a lot in taxes for health. As well as then needing to pay at the point of delivery. And it’s the number 1 cause of bankruptcy so there are huge issues with it.

My uncle was a millionaire, got cancer, and by the end he was poor, relatives were coming to the hospital with cheques so he would be treated. The US system is nothing to envy. The NHS has huge flaws as well but it won’t bankrupt you.

France here. Every mammogram I’ve had, the results are available straight away. Usually the exam is done, you wait around for 15-20 minutes then have a meeting with the radiologist who takes you through the results. You then receive a copy of the results by email, as does the dr. All done at a private clinic, on a day / time of my choosing. I do pay up-front for part of it but it’s all reimbursed soon after.

I don't ignore the flaws but I'm also not going to ignore the fact that the only reason why my child is still with me today is thanks to the NHS.

I certainly don't think waiting for a routine test result is something to make a fuss about but the pp with a family member who has to wait for at least a week to start chemotherapy for cancer? That is something I'd be making a fuss about and is absolutely unacceptable which I also expressed to the pp so no, my posts definitely haven't been everything is fine and we should just be happy.

I'm really not sure where this same comment is all coming from.
I say again, I am a Breast screening programme manager and this is NOT correct.
It may well be the case for the symptomatic service or those referred under a 2WW but routine 3 yearly mammogram screening results are by post. We catagorically DO NOT call people back by phone. It is impossible for us to have taken 260 plus mammograms in a day and then to have had them read, AND then call people on the phone in under 24 hours.
The mammograms are read by two individual consultants and results are usually sent out within 14 days. Our KPI targets are 90% for screen to result.

But is that part of a national mass screening programme?

You know EXACTLY what they meant. Free at point of use, whether you had 'paid in' for 30 years or not.

I use 'paid in' as it's not a PAYG system where you fund your own treatment.

Exactly this - it’s screening and its generally not expected that the majority of women will having anything of concern.

Op may also find that she gets her results sooner than expected and if anything untoward is found, she would be contacted even sooner.

ITS NOT FREE.

We should all be expecting more. Just because we all have to wait is not a good reason. The bar should be so much higher.

But presumably not as part of a national screening programme !
We screened 63,000 in a my part of London last year. I am just compiling my end of year return now. It would be impossible for the NHS to give you the results straight away for all the reasons I have listed above.
We dont have consultants just sitting around waiting to read. They have allocated reading time. Its a huge chain of events.

OP what would be helpful for you to know is that our cancer detection rate is 0.6%. Such tiny numbers compared to the amount of woemn screened.

Don't be pedantic. Free at point of use, whether OP had 'paid in' for 30 years or not.

Both you and the op should have to wait far, far less. Raise your standards.

I live in the US and have to wait up to 10 working days for the results of my routine mammograms. I also pay $$$$ (yep, that was FOUR $ signs) annually for access to healthcare. It’s far from sunshine and rainbows over here.

It’s not being pedantic.

Regardless, shouldn’t we all be striving for more rather than laying down and accepting shitty service?

No where else has an NHS like we do. There’s a reason for that.

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There is a lot of waiting in the nhs. My son has a "probably benign" cyst discovered in March. He is having it removed today and it will likely be January when we get the results of the biopsy. Although when i had an emergency during labour we went from "theatre now" to baby born in 23 minutes.

I get what you’re saying, but how do you propose this happen? It’s not just breast screening, it’s any type of screening. Where is the money going to come from to pay for this raised bar expectation?

I had BC 20 years ago. There is hardly ever a need for urgency with BC, I had to wait for 3 weeks or so for chemo and then again for radio. Stop panicking!

From a gazillion sources where the government is funneling your taxes, to be honest.

For example.

NHS is proven to have one of the lowest funding rates in the western world.

But UK happily funds the royal family.

Just one example :)

But that would mean first recognizing that there is a need for a change, and not being a nation of ostriches with their heads in the sand ignoring that there is any other possibility apart from turning into US fully private capitalistic health system.

How is your anxiety sky high? That word is thrown around all the time and over a routine test? The NHS is broken. It spends the extra money each govenment gives them with no real improvement.

I wish someone would look at other Europe models of providing health care. The NHS is massively bloated. Far too many bean counters, clip board managers and of course the general public who are demanding more and more.

The sooner we all accept this the better. If a routine health test concerns you you really need to look at the private service.

100% agree with you OP but you have forgotten that the NHS is a sacred cow that can’t be criticised because it’s “free”.
I moved country and the country I moved to mammograms are also available free and my turnaround was two days last time.
I recently had a suspect mole removed. Wait for biopsy result was over four weeks on the NHS. When I had this overseas the dr rang me with the all clear next morning.

We all know that the NHS as a system is broken but it’s so difficult to fix and there would need to be cross party consensus on how to do this with assurances about how to fund any new system.
We should be working towards a system like they have in France or Norway for example. A small charge to see a GP (would see off the time wasters/no-shows) and no charge for those on qualifying benefits. You can get scans and test results done very quickly.