NHS vs Private

I know people who have switched. You shouldn't worry about causing offence if your private health care plan covers everything and those in the NHS would definitely understand. It will probably be NHS consultants doing private work any way. Your treatment will be the same but given in a private hospital. I guess the only thing you can not do easily is take part in clinical trials as they are usually recruit through NHS cancer centres. But you might find there is less waiting and results and definitive treatments come sooner in the private setting - that would have appealed to me as the waiting game was no fun. I would consider how far away the private hospital is compared to the NHS as some aspects of treatment can make you very tired and you may find travelling a bit harder as your treatment progresses, depending on what your treatment plan is. 

Thank you that’s good advice especially about the travel and clinical trials. 

Hi,

I did this very recently, I found a lump and went to GP who booked me on NHS for check, After 2 days I got an appt on the 26th Feb. My husband then reminded me I had private insurance through work. So I called and they booked me the next day to a one stop breast clinic. (I cancelled my NHS appt)

They next day I had been told I had cancer and would need chemo & surgery. They did MRI scans, biopsies and sent me for PET scan the day after. I had my 1st chemotherapy on the 2nd March - so impressed with the service and the speed at which they worked to pull all my results together. Within 4 days they had all results and a plan of action.

The private hospital for me is closer to home too and I’m pretty sure that many consultants work in both NHS & private hospitals. 
When the insurance company called me to introduce me to my cancer support manager with them, I even found myself apologizing for costing them so much money. They have been fantastic and luckily I have full cover. I am now so glad I switched and that’s what the insurance is there for 

hope all goes well x 

Thank you for your reply - I think you have made my mind up! Will ring my GP tomorrow x

My cancer was found on routine mammogram, my consultant on NHS was also a private consultant at the private hospital I use so I was able to transfer to private and keep the same consultant. He said I could use private and NHS together if I wanted to. Where I live the waiting times for scans and treatment are up to 12 weeks slower than private I couldn't wait so went private and my oncology team are fantastic.hope this helps

Debbie

I too had a long wait for an NHS appointment - I had a letter telling me I had an appointment with [unknown] and that there was no guarantee that I would have any tests done on the day.  Luckily I could go private, albeit under the same consultant.  I had ultrasound, biopsies, CT scan, MRI scan, mammogram and loads of blood tests, and then had surgery within three weeks of my initial appointment.  I had tumours on both sides.  The left was grade three and very fast growing.  It was 12cm across and I had 11 of 13 lymph nodes affected.  I'm not sure that the HNS would have been able to treat me in time to be honest - weeks of waiting for scans and appointments.

Dont worry about upsetting the consultant - it's your body and you need to look after yourself

Thank you all for your responses - I have been onto BUPA this morning who have I have to say been brilliant. Fingers crossed I can get transferred across quickly as the NHS surgeon doesn’t have a private practice.

Hi Melr 

csn I ask how long you then had to wait for chemo after your surgery (assuming you had it)?

thanks

HI I had surgery on 27 January and was going to start chemo soon afterwards - like a couple of weeks.  Then the oncologist said that because of the involvement of so many lymph nodes, he wanted a PET scan because if I had secondaries, the chemo would be different.  I couldn't have the PET scan until 6 weeks post surgery because of the wound healing, so the scan is on Wednesday this week and assuming all is OK, I have a PICC line booked for next Monday and chemo on 15 March.  I've already had my set up appointment with the chemo team and we are all good to go.

For me, I mixed and matched a bit without insurance but couldn't afford to go private for everything. The waiting time for a staging scan and reporting was 4 weeks plus in the NHS and would have delayed chemo potentially. I had a scan within 2 days of asking privately and it was reported 2 or 3 days after that. I think the advantage of private care is that you can shorten your cancer journey by a month or two compared with the NHS, you have less stress from all the long NHS waits and you are guaranteed that your care is all given by the consultant. I can see some really positive stories from those who used their insurance. I am pretty certain that I would have taken the option of private care if I had insurance just to speed up the journey.