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Original poster

Need support, NHS letting my husband go into heart failure.

83 replies

Imdunfer · 08/12/2025 19:43

Just writing for support, feeling very down tonight.

DH has been on the waiting list for an ablation for 13 weeks, after paying £20+k for a pacemaker 3 months ago because he was in heart failure. PLEASE don't misunderstand me, we are well aware that we are lucky to have been able to afford it but it was money saved to safeguard our future care needs, not to do basic NHS stuff that mean he could die by the time he reaches the top of the waiting list.

Today he asked his GP to try to get him up the list because he has new signs of heart failure from flutter that is causing the top half of his heart to beat at over 300 beats a minute. It's overworked, basically. He already has a mechanical aortic valve, he's very high risk with that. The GP told him he can't see hospital records and sent him away to try and find out how long the wait will be for himself.

That process was another whole story, but finally he has found out that he is scheduled for an ablation in September next year, a whole year after going on the waiting list.

If we wait that long his heart could be permanently damaged and ruin the quality of the rest of his life (our lives, I am so not fit to be a carer). There is a good chance he could have a heart attack and die.

So it looks like we're going to have to dig another £30k out of our future security and pay for the ablation, which is quite likely not to work first time and need to be repeated, which we will also have to pay for.

We've paid all our lives into the health service and it's abandoned us in our old age.

Can anyone suggest what else we can do? Or just offer a caring word or two?

OP posts:

OneQuirkyPanda · 07/01/2026 17:19

Imdunfer · 07/01/2026 16:42

Well pardon me but I'll take the advice of the GP and experts who have seen him. We are far from novices about heart procedures or marketing, who can be duped into paying when the NHS would have done it. The NHS in this area is absolutely notorious for its wait for heart operations.

Atrial flutter does damage older hearts by overwork. You'll can't overwork old heart at muscle at 350 beats a minute without it being perfectly reasonable to expect damage to the muscle over time. And his heart is already compromised with a mechanical heart valve and a rising aorta root aneurysm.

There is very little chance that the ablation he has had done won't continue to work. Not all ablations are the same.

Please stop trying to piss on my parade. The operation is done and paid for, I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve with your post.

Edited

Show quote history

Erm okay, I was trying to help you potentially save another £20k that you may not need to spend if the ablation doesn’t work, which does happen fairly often (about 20-40% of patients need a redo or multiple redos).

The information you’re posting, to me as someone who is educated in and works in this field, doesn’t make much sense. I’m not saying he didn’t need the procedure (it would not be appropriate for me to say that as he’s not my patient). I was advising you to get a second opinion if he goes back into AF because from what you’ve said I can’t see any indication that his heart will be “permanently damaged” or “he will have a heart attack and die” if he doesn’t have an ablation ASAP.

Unfortunately, I have seen first hand that consultants do advise patients to have procedures that they could do without or could wait on the NHS for if it generates them income via private work. It’s your money though, so I will leave you to it. I’m glad the procedure went well and wish you and your husband all the best.

PolyVagalNerve · 07/01/2026 17:23

Sidge · 08/12/2025 20:59

Why does he need to see another GP? What do you think another GP can do? They can’t override waiting lists, and expedite letters are rarely worth the paper they’re written on as the consultant will dictate his or her list and urgency.

Don’t add to a GPs workload with unnecessary and futile work, please.

It’s shit I know OP and I sympathise. All you can do is be a squeaky wheel with the cardiology secretaries.

Show quote history

Indeed - agree

and requesting to being pushed up the list over all the others with similar ? Worse ? Is crap situation
NHS wait lists are awful
make sure the clinic with the wait list are aware of deterioration so that they can prioritise of clinically able to, in relation to other patients on the list

MrsLizzieDarcy · 07/01/2026 17:37

I'm so pleased all went well and initial results are positive. Hopefully you can now both take a deep breath and go back to having some quality of life.

Lifelover16 · 07/01/2026 17:45

I have read the whole thread, but not contributed as I have little more to offer than other posters, and didn’t want to derail the thread by disagreeing with some pp whose suggestions were unhelpful and must have increased your stress.
I just posted to say I am so pleased for you; getting the procedure done must be such a relief to both of you. I wish your DH a speedy recovery and hope that you can both get some rest now

DeftWasp · 07/01/2026 18:01

MissMoneyFairy · 09/12/2025 08:54

Years of underfunding, understaffed, Brecit, covid, lack of social care all contribute to the long waiting lists, sometimes people have to strike to improve conditions, there's never a good time. Perhaps nhs doctors should not be allowed to work in both private practice and the NHS

The NHS has never been underfunded or understaffed, they have consistently frittered money away like its going out of fashion and employed too many of the wrong kind of staff. Been an NHS contractor for years, go in to watch the cash being peed'd up the wall.

Original poster

Imdunfer · 07/01/2026 20:04

OneQuirkyPanda · 07/01/2026 17:19

Edited

Show quote history

You will have to forgive me if I doubt your expertise as you have made at least one statement which is completely incorrect, that atrial flutter will not damage the heart muscle.

if the ablation doesn’t work, which does happen fairly often (about 20-40% of patients need a redo or multiple redos).

If the failure for this surgeon and this ablation had been that high we would never have paid for it in the first place.

Nobody tried to persuade us to do this, it was driven entirely by my husband's increasing poor health, as noticed by us. He was on the NHS waiting list. The private appointment was requested by us and suggested to us by nobody else.

We made the decision before this operation that paying for a repeat was not on the cards.

He was given a projected date for the NHS in this area as "probably not this year". Meanwhile, I left a man yesterday who was breathless walking up a set of stairs and, apart from the necessity to rest for recovery of the insert site and scar tissue development on the heart, picked up a man this morning who could go back to running again. A man who was perpetually cold and is now warm. A man who was constantly coughing who now is not.

It's the best money we've ever spent.

OP posts:

Original poster

Imdunfer · 24/01/2026 08:38

An update for anyone interested. The ablation has been 100% successful. He's a new man, we really had no idea just how badly it was impacting him.

And in the meanwhile, we've now received his next appointment for the "annual" reviews he has on a rising aortic aneurism (very dangerous place to have one, above the heart) ....... 2nd March ........... 2027.

You couldn't make this stuff up.

OP posts:

MrsLizzieDarcy · 24/01/2026 11:51

I'm glad it's been a success for him, OP, you must both be so relieved.

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