Cancer! An Expert Tells The NHS Failure

growstuff You say The majority of people just don't seem to realise how fundamental the changes were or how disruptive and expensive those kind of changes are.

Surely that is the point. From the point of view of the patient they are unaware of any changes or any improvement in service, which must surely leave most people wondering what the purpose of the changes was.

As for the Long Term plan. I cannot see anything in it that will guarantee that when I (or my daughter, or my DH) have a serious problem we will be able to see and talk to a doctor face to face who will listen to our symptoms, treat them seriously and set about finding out the cause of the problem and treating it. I have rehearsed DDs experience a number of times, but it has taken me 10 months of seeing doctors none of whom has actually listened to me and understood what my main medical problem is, despite me being articulate and able to describe symptoms clearly.

That has taken a physiotherapist who has said 'this symptom is your main problem isn't it? and understood my frustration, yet even though he is a hospital physiotherapist, he can do nothing to enable me to see a doctor who might deal with it or assess it, not even one in his own department. I have to get in contact with a privatised entity called Connect Health who will assess me by phone and decide what to do.

I have already paid for one private assessment this year, with a specialist who has confirmed one condition that requires surgery that my GP had no interest in and recommended a reworking of previous NHS surgery which has not been successful. He recommended I see local surgeons, he is London based, so there is nothing in it for him to recommend surgery and other treatment.

Thank you for taking the trouble to understand my perspective Monica We too have had a fair share of experiences where care has been inadequate and it is very upsetting.

Given your interest in change, I assume you're familiar with the current NHS Long Term Plan.

Fair enough MOnica. I don't work for the NHS either. However, one of my sisters was a Clinical Manager during the 2011/2 changes and she would dispute that those changes were just rearranging the deckchairs. The majority of people just don't seem to realise how fundamental the changes were or how disruptive and expensive those kind of changes are.

Calipso My post was not a specific response to your posts. i was not even thinking of your posts when I wrote it. I am deeply sorry you took it to be personal.

I have now read all your posts and none of them are among those who, when telling of the excellent treatment they received, somehow suggest that they (almost) disbelieve or dismiss those that complain of a poor or grossly inadequate response to their health problems and, sadly, for so many of us that is our experiennce.

Growstuff since I do not work in the health sector, I can make suggestions that can move the deck chairs on the Titanic, Unfortunately I do not know enough about naval architecture to be able to point out the structural faults in the design of the ship that contributed to its sinking. What I do know is many more people on board died than survived.

I didn't always feel positive about it Calipso. There were times I just wept, but the staff in the hospital were always reassuring. The hospital has an online messaging system, so I could ask questions whenever I wanted and usually received a response within hours.

Thank you for your reassuring words growstuff, I'm not by nature a worrier but it's hard to contemplate what she is going to have to face in the months ahead. I'm glad that your experiences and those of your sister have been positive.

Thanks to posters who clarified the context of this article.

My husband’s progress from slight occasional stomach discomfort to devastating metastasised stage 4 cancer, took 6 months. Bloods/scans of abdomen/kidneys all clear. The gastric specialist arranged a torso scan, 3 months after the first referral, after which he expected to discharge

A series of scans and invasive investigations followed. He did a 10 mile walk the day before being shown the results - stage 4 mets in lungs, bone, ribs, hips and brain and blood.
Extensive investigations and pathology eventually confirmed the original kidney cancer had been washed away by his immune system - kidney scans all clear. Kidney cancer travels to lungs, bones, brain and more.

He died as a result of 3 strokes in 3 days, the last one catastrophic. The strokes were caused by the radium treatment that successfully shrank or stopped the growth of the brain tumours. He’d elected to have the treatment, knowing strokes a possible side effect.
He was also given fortnightly infusions which stopped or shrunk the cancers in his bones and body.
So, the best of treatment from the Christie, Manchester’s cancer hospital. The best of care in the stroke unit at Royal Salford Hospital. A very aggressive cancer that wasn’t identified because it was symptom free.

Calipso I really do feel you after your news. I really wouldn't worry too much about the speed at which things are moving. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2022. It turned out to be not so straightforward and it was six months before I finally had my op. Just after that, my sister was also diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine mammogram. Hers was still very small and it was straightforward. She had her op within three weeks and radiotherapy a couple of weeks later.

There's no point telling you not to worry, but my experience (and that of my sister) of oncology units has been excellent. I think most cancers are so common that pathways in individual hospitals have on the whole been sorted out.

I'm not sure how to respond to your post @Monica

In the face of devastating and life changing news which we are still trying to comprehend, it has actually made me quite afraid at the rapid sequence of events that I outlined because it tells me this is very bad news indeed.
If you actually read my initial post you will notice how I said that I'm not the biggest fan of much that is happening in the NHS. If you feel that I was somehow 'crowing' you are much mistaken. Please do tell me how you wish me to 'express empathy' to you and to others that have had difficult experiences.

What would be good if you could come up with some practical ideas for sorting the problems.

I don't know how many threads there have been on the same theme and the same things are always said.

i wish all those who have had fabulous and wonderful treatment from the NHS would show a bit of empathy for those of us whose experience is not so fortunate.

I fully agree that the NHS isn't all bad. The treatment DD had after her road accident, treatment that went on for over 5 years, was generally excellent. Likewise the response to DH's heart attack and the operation that followed, but they are the only two lights in a pattern of generally poor to non-existent treatment and on one occasion, life threatening neglect. DD ended up on the critically ill list, as a result of her GP's carelessness, which the surgery then tried to hide by not sending her to hospital for emergency treatment.

Iwent through a really bad patch this time last year .I saw my GP she sent me to the optician that afternoon and I had a brain scan the next day ,In her words she just wanted to be sure t was nothing sinister,It wasn't .In May I saw a gynaecologist within days of reporting a bleed to the gp ,I've been very lucky our NHS has never let me down .Waiting times here show that @12% wait more than 4 hours to be seen treated and in a bed or sent home .I've never been in an A and E that took that long ...but I've never been late nights at weekends when ts full of drunks !! That might be where the long waits occur

Calipso it sounds as if your daughter is receiving the very best of NHS care. Best wishes to her, to you and your family.

I am currently undergoing cancer treatment having been diagnosed earlier this year. I have had wonderful "joined up" treatment and care from the NHS from day one. I'm afraid Mr Sikora has something of an axe to grind. I recently read an article by him which was so far removed from my own experience that it served only to upset me and make me anxious. For that reason I shan't bother to read this one.

I suspect his article is triggered by the liquidation of Rutherford Cancer Centres, which Sikora founded. He's been trying to get his foot into the NHS's door for ages.

The centres do have state of the art diagnostic equipment, but they don't do treatment. What that means is that people pay to find out they have cancer, which causes a log jam in the NHS (unless people can fund their own treatment).

Unless the NHS has more funding for cancer, it has to divert funding from other illnesses, in which Sikora has no interest.

Imperial College had to stop Sikora from calling himself a professor of oncology and he holds controversial views such as considering giving younger patients priority for expensive drugs. He does not agree with the principles of the NHS. I can't take anything he writes very seriously.

I would cross-reference you to the thread I started recently on the OECD report on the health systems in its 38 members, where the UK comes high in per capita expenditure, but low in beds per 1,000, the number of MRI, CT and PET equipment we have and the low pay of our nurses.

I suspect this report triggered Sikora's article as it quotes figures from the OECD report. he may have a view that some people dislike, but the OECD figures are damning.

Thank you to all for your kindness. It helps more than you'll ever know.

MaizieD

Sikora is a highly controversial figure and a well known opponent of the NHS ethos. He supported the disastrous reversion to the 'herd immunity' theory which led to even more deaths in the second wave of covid 19 than in the first.

I prefer not to read anything by him as I doubt his objectivity.

I agree. He owns a company selling cancer care with expensive resources. He's been trying for a long term to win NHS contracts. Without significant extra financing , this would mean that money would need to be diverted from elsewhere.

In 1999 November I found a breast lump.
I was going to Antigua on the 15th to visit my D and 8 month old GS.
My GP referred me to the Nightingale hospital in Manchester but told me to go on holiday.
I returned on November 30th was seen at the clinic on December 1st had mammogram and biopsy.
Dec 8th BC confirmed.
Operated on December 15th, home on December 22nd.
5 weeks radiotherapy late Feb and March.
7 years Anastrozole (sp)
I hope very sincerely this wonderful timescale is soon restored.
So little time to worry and fret.
Calipso very very best wishes to your D, you and all your family.

Calipso I echo the thoughts of others. I hope your daughter is returned to good health very soon.

Calipso, best wishes for your daughter as she starts her treatment.

@Grannynannywanny
Thank you for your kindness, it helps so much

Sikora is a highly controversial figure and a well known opponent of the NHS ethos. He supported the disastrous reversion to the 'herd immunity' theory which led to even more deaths in the second wave of covid 19 than in the first.

I prefer not to read anything by him as I doubt his objectivity.

I’m so sorry to read of your daughter’s diagnosis Calipso. It’s good to hear she has received such prompt attention from our NHS . Wishing her well in her treatment and I hope she’s soon returned to good health 💐

NHS cancer care has also been a beacon for my neighbour who was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma, that was three years ago and he is now very well indeed and gets out and about a lot. He looks very well, none of that cancer colour any more. He has had fantastic speedy treatment from the nhs