Radium 223 postcode lottery!

Life is unfair sometimes.

Some people come to this forum for support. 

Unfortunately, whilst looking for support, they may sometimes be the recipient of insensitively worded replies.  Whilst the issue of cross border treatment is a valid one, there are ways of delivering that message in a measured way. Maybe a bit of history will ameliorate the harshness offered by others, giving pause for thought:

Comparisons of Wales with France and Ireland are invalid. Wales was merged with England in 1536. The NHS was brought into being by a Welshman.  Six decades after the formation of our NHS - remember that- the UK NHS, not the UK and Ireland - or France-NHS, a referendum was held  in Wales. 

0.3 % of that vote swung it for the Yes vote - about a quarter of the electorate. The 'We' who voted for it were in the minority.  Such is democracy. Whether it is able to ever deliver  healthcare for Wales  comparable with the previous system is debateable.  The population of Wales has had poorer health for the last three centuries. Wages are low, unemployment high. What has that to do with it , you may ask?

Well, 'your' 'English' NHS hospitals along the borders, principally in mid and North Wales, centres of excellence such as the Robert Jones Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Shropshire, have developed through the input of local Welsh people.  In North Wales, the influence of Welsh expertise in health, in centres of population such as Chester, Birkenhead, Liverpool, and Manchester has been enormous. It can be argued that some of the current hospitals there could not have developed their expertise without the Welsh input and demand from Welsh people. Wales formed the services in these 'English' NHS hospitals. The border has always been porous. If you were ill in the infant NHS, and needed specialist care, you headed to the centres of population for historical reasons...and centres of population sustain centres of specialisation.

With the stroke of a pen 10 years ago, a Government bill to gave control of the budget for Welsh NHS treatment to the politicians in Cardiff on the mandate of a quarter of the electorate. It's not until you are seriously ill, that you realise what a mistake this was. The hospitals referred to above, developed and utilised over the first half century of the UK NHS  by welsh people, did not suddenly levitate and head West at this change. The Welsh NHS has had 10 years therefore to replace those assets. Similarly, of all the Welsh coal, steel, and to the current day, water that was taken from Wales, principally for the benefit of English people, little of the profit from that ended back in Wales. 

By all means, talk about funding, but maybe ponder a little, before the Little Englander asserts...

An excellent post and I agree with your comments.

We were seriously considering retirement to South West Wales a few years ago. Partly because we like the area and also because it was highly probable that one of my daughters would settle in the area following uni in Aberystwyth.

We have many friends in our intended area and some of them have had recent treatment for cancer and other ailments. Through them I am fully aware of the challenges facing NHS Wales re staffing and funding and the politics behind it too. However I always said something would happen to influence our decision either way and that something turned out to be PCa.

So we have decided to stay in the south east of England where I have an excellent hospital just 5 minutes drive from my home. I would not want to change medical teams at this stage of my disease. And I have free prescriptions as a cancer patient too.

John

There was a lot off faffing about and letters exchanged and In the end Wales would not pay for me to have maternity care in Bristol. It took months to get this decision made.

I had to pay to have NHS treatment in England, despite being born there.

The changing GP route and having an address in England would have been the way to do it, had I known. However time was obviously constrained ( as it is with your Dad) and my honesty worked against me.

I have heard that if you live in England you can choose where to be treated, but this may apply to Maternity only, I'm not sure.

It's not an easy scenario and proved very upsetting along the way to be denied the treatment.

I wish you better luck than I had.

Alison

Edited by member 26 May 2016 at 17:18  | Reason: Not specified

But then you were...

Bit harsh I think... If Wales NHS are willing to fund then English tax payers lose nothing and then it really doesn't matter where it is administered.