Health care for cancer patients in the Nhs

1 minute read time.

Hi friends

    I have decided to try to improve the mental health care for cancer patients in the Nhs.

To do this i need your help .i will have to do a lot of research . That is were you come in ,could you please send me your experiences of the treatment or lack  of it you recieved for anxiety or depression after your opps. or chemo and how long it took for you to get to see a clinical psychologist. It took me six months .I think there should be one in attendance with every cancer team to help with the problems a lot of us have while in hospital  and when we leave .

 Those of you who decided to help me could you let  me know which primary care trust you are under ,just to see if like a  lot of things in Nhs it comes down to a lottery post code.Could you also tell me if you have bupa or some other private health care so i may compair them with Nhs .when i have collated all data will send to Dept. of health and to mac org.They have had discussions on this but not much data at least not from those who matter those who have and still are going through these problems just like me . it may do no good but unless wetry will never know will we thanks Alan

Anonymous
  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    I am a private patient and I get nothing, Even with the chemo there is no specialist nurse for me. I see the oncologist wherever he happens to be and I had to deal with 4 different places in the first weeks of diagnosis. I feel entirely on my own. My GP was good and tried to get me CBT as I was so anxious but they didn't want to help. Then the GP left and the other one is so ineffectual that I don't go, only for certificates. From what I have heard NHS patients have  access to more psychological services than I do. I suppose it depends on your policy though.

    Good luck with your research.

    Jen

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    re: jenham's comment -- I too have been a private patient for surgery etc, but all the mental health issues have been offered on the NHS - I have a pretty good private policy, but I imagine I would find it hard to get them to cough up for the mental health services I have been receiving.

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Hi Alan we are with Ayrshire & Arran HB. Bert did and still does get help from a Clinical Psychologist especially for oncology patients. She is a star and we would have had a harder time coping without her. We originally asked for a psychiatrist to come and see him but we were told from him that he thought he was mildly depressed. My reply to that is unprintable but in polite terms I assured him that is his world of psychiatry it might be mild, but in our world it was major so he passed us on to Psychology.

    It took a few weeks and a lot of nagging on my part but it does work wonders. She stll sees Bert once a moth and when he goes into the Beatson then he will see someone else right away ( it's a different HB) then back to her when we come home again

    Love Teri

    Love Teri

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Hi Alan we are with Ayrshire & Arran HB. Bert did and still does get help from a Clinical Psychologist especially for oncology patients. She is a star and we would have had a harder time coping without her. We originally asked for a psychiatrist to come and see him but we were told from him that he thought he was mildly depressed. My reply to that is unprintable but in polite terms I assured him that is his world of psychiatry it might be mild, but in our world it was major so he passed us on to Psychology.

    It took a few weeks and a lot of nagging on my part but it does work wonders. She stll sees Bert once a moth and when he goes into the Beatson then he will see someone else right away ( it's a different HB) then back to her when we come home again

    Love Teri

    Love Teri

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Sorry Alan I should have said it would not hurt to offer the same care to the carers

    Teri