Not proud to be British

Every time we deal with the treatment hospital we get depressed! So we carry on enjoying life and waiting. Two emails from Zimbabwe and South Africa put our troubles in context!

I do not want to lambast our health service, after all most of us need to use it.

Two weeks ago we were told to expect an appointment with the oncologist either 8 days ago or yesterday, we would be told by letter. We have had Easter disrupt post, but unfortunately cancer takes no holidays.

To make sure we did not miss an appointment I phoned the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, after 10 minutes of being passed from pillar to post over three phone numbers and two answering machines I got a message saying "we have all gone home at 15:00, please do NOT leave a message"

We try again every 30 or so minutes all yesterday, nobody can talk sense, but are told Jan does NOT appear on their computerised appointments system.

It has left us both feeling we no longer wish to deal with the hospital staff. How sad when Jan has worked at that hospital for 6 months, and at the one chosen for radiotherapy for about 20 years. How can our NHS so demotivate even their own? We know the University College Hospital London where we expect radiotherapy claims an international reputation, and had thought that was a good thing. But a reputation for what?

I look at a University of California San Franciso (UCSF) professor's blog and find this "Looking at all nations with some form of socialized medicine, other than England--which is apparently abysmal for cancer treatment and survival--outcomes are far better there than the USA" In other words she views the UK reputation as being for abysmal treatment. The blog entry is here

From the telegraph last year, so its not old news:

UK cancer survival rate are the lowest in Europe. England is on a par with Poland despite the NHS spending three times more on health care. "We have good evidence that survival for lung cancer has been compromised by long waiting lists for radiotherapy treatment."

A second article, which looked at 2.7 million patients diagnosed between 1995 and 1999, found that countries that spent the most on health per capita per year had better survival rates. Britain was the exception. Despite spending up to £1,500 on health per person per year, it recorded similar survival rates as Poland, which spends a third of that amount.

An accompanying editorial said the figures showed that the NHS Cancer Plan, published in 2000, was not working.

And again another article:

Thousands of women have been forced to wait years for hospital test results that will show whether they have inherited a deadly breast cancer gene. All breast cancer patients with a family history of the disease are supposed to be offered NHS tests to discover if they carry the faulty gene. However, an investigation by the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer has found that half of the groups running the NHS laboratories that perform the tests are failing to meet a government target to provide results in eight weeks But in reality some women are forced to wait for up to three years for their results.

On the car radio today the UK cancer research charity was begging for funds. If we cannot use the info we already have what is the point of further research, unless to look for cost saving techniques or DIY cures using vegetables?

It ties in with a course my daughter ran for NHS management, when she said" if you pour money into the NHS without sorting out the organisation you will merely get an expensive health service". She was of course not invited back!

However there are obviously gems in the NHS. We still trust the surgeon, and I had dental treatment today. I discussed with the dentist when I should return for a checkup. NHS guidelines state after 2 years, she said that was rubbish, she recommended 6 months.