NHS now saying stuff is free.

[MixMaxChop]

Dear Mrs Chop

Welcome to NHS breast screening. We would like to invite you for your free mammograms. We have made you an appointment in a hospital that is not local to you in the arse end of a city that does not have any access from the railway station and parking is strictly limited and none of your previous mammograms have ever been in this city before but that’s not the point.

Free??

A) it isn’t free. My NHS contributions have paid for this many times over.

B) Surely “free” is the whole point of the NHS

C) are they craftily prepping us to have to start paying for services now in a stealth move to privatise the NHS?

This.

Also bear in mind that the Centre far from you will be closer to someone else.

do they send them out as soon as you hit 50?

I had a phone call recently to be told they’re not doing breast exams anymore so no point attending the Family History Clinic. I get annual mammograms but to be checked annually too was a reassurance I can now no longer have.

I was speaking to another service recently about how I’d not received a follow up in the past due to errors and was told “that’s just the NHS”.

It might be free at the point of access but it’s not free of stress. The patient-centred approach seems to have gone out the window.

I had my first one within a month of turning 50. The appointment was in a lorry parked at a supermarket in walking distance from my house, so it seems I was lucky.

I guess it’s because people are scared of being charged eg like dentists and eye tests, so aren’t going. It’s reassure ce that there’s no charge to the individual at the point of delivery.

Not exactly. They do area by area so you will be called after your 50th birthday next time they are doing your area. Often in a supermarket car park.

Quite right OP. Standard NHS screening appointments are not “free”. We fund them .

NHSMail is encrypted but appointments have to be sent to people outside that
network who use regular Email apps. The post has been used as the most secure method of delivering this type information for decades. Until recently it was a reliable service but delays are now so common that alternatives are having to be sought.

Systems like apps are being brought in to replace the post but they are difficult to roll out because many people are not capable of using them. If you don't have a computer or a smartphone, or do not understand the complexities of modern technology the NHS still has to communicate with you. Remember around 5% of the population do not use the internet at all.

"A) it isn’t free. My NHS contributions have paid for this many times over."

Yes it is.

No, they haven't.

And if they detect something you will get possibly hundreds of housands ££ worth of nhs cancer treatment free at point of use . Probably well above your personal contribution. Just appreciate the service

GPs are currently voting on whether or not to make their services subject to means tested subscription. That'll be fun.

I have had breast cancer. Someone inviting you to a breast screening appointment and using the word 'free' when it is free at the point of delivery isnt a problem. It really isnt.

I'd like it if they could be more locally located but money is short and people dont want to pay more taxes. Id like the nhs to be better funded, but i dont get to decide these things.

The NHS is well funded, but a lot of the money is wasted. They like to remind us that it's free so we can be grateful for any crumbs they throw in our direction.

My local hospitals breast units (yes, plural) are currently being investigated for causing harm to patients.

Oh & my treatment was 40 minutes drive from my house. I still do that drive regularly a couple of years after diagnosis. I am just happy to have excellent free treatment that saved my life. Having to travel a bit for screening. It is a bit inconvenient, but you know there are worse things in life.

Who are 'they' in this context?
For a bit of balance, Id just like to say that I have received excellent person-centred cancer treatment from caring and well educated staff. They were there to support me when I was ill and terrified. I have had years of treatment that is free at the point of delivery. The NHS was there when i needed them.

Nobody has ever asked me to be grateful. I didnt consider surgery, chemo & radiotherapy to be 'crumbs'. It saved my life.

That's nice for you. Some of us aren't so lucky and can't access care. I have a serious illness and can't access care. I'm autistic and people like me don't get treated.

'They' are the staff who treat me like an idiot, don't listen to me, patronise me and send me on my way. They're remarkably smug considering they deliver such a poor service (for some people), so I take that to mean I'm supposed to be grateful for the very cursory medical help I have received.

Forgive me for being somewhat irascible, but I'm in constant pain and am living on baby food.

There are many things that need to be done to improve the NHS. Really important things like improving maternity care and access for MH services. Little niggles like this (which I find ridiculous to even notice beyond a couple of seconds to think “well we pay tax”) distract from the bigger things.

NHS management can address this sort of thing or groups that are pro or anti LGBT lanyards to get good headlines for listening. Meanwhile not addressing the call from the LGBT community for improvement in MH services and some women who notice the word “free” in a letter but more importantly are ignored when they say try to get help with painful periods.

'That's nice for you.'
'Lucky'.
I suppose that is one way to look at it.
I am genuinely sorry you have experienced poor care. Unfortunately, there are instances where care is not of the standard it should be. That is not unique to the NHS.
However, I think it is very important to highlight positive experiences of the NHS. Like I say - without the care I received I'd be dead. In the grand scheme of things, I dont think using the word 'free' is an issue.

Dead easy to change it to your local site, you just call them up. I had to do that as they’d allocated me Charing Cross hospital, there’s about 5 hospitals closer for me than that one. Basically it’s just them allocating you the earliest and closest appointment.

I’m too old to be automatically called for mammography now but I was assured if I requested a mammogram I’d get it.

I do agree re appointments. An online booking system would be better. I was sent an appointment for a Tuesday morning at 0845 at a hospital 25 miles away. No train station in my town. Would be three buses there, although no bus is actually available early enough. I’m sure fewer appointments would be missed if people could book themselves an appointment at a convenient time to them. Weekends or early evenings would be good as well. My husband recently had an MRI scan at 0830 on a Sunday morning which was excellent.

I’m preety sure the bowel screening letters say the same!

What exactly are you moaning about? Just the word free?