Switching from Private to NHS care

Hi, I was on private healthcare through work, Gleason 9 so not AS like you  but I had to change to nhs as the insurer would only cover “life extending” drugs for one year and I was about to start abiraterone . 5 years on and I am still on that drug so glad I went nhs. ( the insurer would now fund btw).

the differences imho from a quality cancer hospital :-

i no longer get free tea and biscuits

blood tests are a cheese counter queue rather than seen at once

my appointments (pre covid) were often delayed by 15 minutes or so nhs but on time private

my appointments were a bit quicker on the nhs

there was a nurse taking notes private, nhs the doc does it

i see a different onco from month to month but if I ask I can see the same onco I saw privately (that’s what I do) , I may have to wait an extra 10 minutes.

the treatment remains top quality now just slightly delayed sometimes.

the only reason I would want to have the private option would be if there were approved drugs available for cancer but not funded by the nhs, that has been the case historically with some however if you pay for your policy every year how many years can you afford to pay ? 

Personally the nhs is fine for me, the other advantage of private is that the hospital makes a bit out of it so in a small way anyone private is helping fund some of the shortfall in government funding. 

There are probably more arguments but this is how I have seen it .

Edited by member 25 Jan 2021 at 21:25  | Reason: Not specified

I have had no experience of private treatment at all. 

What I would say is that my NHS treatment at least pre-covid, has been excellent. Cancer seems to have a high political profile so there are timeframes things have to be done by.

I've only spent one night in hospital on an NHS ward, I can't say I liked it, so maybe private would have helped then. 

I have heard people say active surveillance has to be "done properly" so that implies some organisations are not good at this, maybe a lack of joined up thinking. I can certainly believe this would be possible in a bureaucracy like the NHS but I have no evidence for that. 

Private may fund some treatments that NHS wouldn't. Someone on here was recently quoted £13,000 for HIFU. I don't think I would like forking out £6,000 a year, I would prefer put the money in the bank and pay for my treatment if it were only £13,000 even if it needed to be repeated every couple of years. 

Dave, as an aside you mentioned getting better hospital treatment as a private patient than an NHS patient. I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, found "accidentally" (thank goodness) while I was having MRI scans for prostate cancer. I had to have my left kidney removed as a result of this.

I was a private patient in Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral; they use their operating theatres for private work at the weekends. The hospital has no private rooms, though, so I was in an NHS urology ward and treated exactly the same as any NHS patient.

Going private doesn't necessarily get you treatment that's any different to that of an NHS patient.

When I had my prostate cancer RT I was a private patient at Clatterbridge which does have a private clinic as a part of the NHS cancer hospital. Same RT machines as the NHS patients, but a comfy waiting room with leather armchairs rather than plastic chairs, and the nurse brings you your water on a tray with a pretty doily rather than having to get it yourself from a machine. The bill to my insurance company for my RT was £24,000. Is a comfy chair and waitress service worth £24k? You decide 😁.

Best wishes,

Chris

Edited by member 26 Jan 2021 at 08:45  | Reason: Not specified