Private treatment / scans / MRI cos of NHS wait

I think a few who have had private HC have utilised or considered.  Generally NHS BC treatment is pretty quick .  I take it you have initial diagnosis and treatment plan if you know you having mastectomy?  Do you have date for this yet?  

I didn't require MRI but I did wait about 6 weeks for surgery as I was non urgent, needed two procedures on same day in different hospitals and consultants both had leave booked over a 3 week period!  I had pathology results from surgery same week though and then started radiotherapy once healed.  I was diagnosed June, surgery July: finished radiotherapy September.  

Thanks for the reply. Yes i was diagnosed on the 2nd March with grade 3 invasive lobular cancer... ive had a blood test..no results yet... MRI of boobs with dye is booked for the 17th.... results wont be until after they have had a weekly meeting... i have been told because its a large lump im going to lose the breast. 

Its already taken over 6 weeks to get to this point, mri is another 2 weeks on top of that, then meeting and then wait for appointment to be given results so more weeks on top and all the time not knowing if its spread so thats i why im thinking about getting full body MRI or CT scan privately now so we know if its spread and maybe any other tests that need doing to speed this process up. 

So wondered if anyone else had done this? x  

Hi , waiting is the worst part in any diagnosis and treatment so I can totally understand your keenness to get things moving quicker.  I have private medical insurance however every time I asked my NHS consultants if it would be quicker if I went private, they told me it wouldn’t speed things up, and in some cases, the first private appointment would’ve been a couple of days after my NHS one!  So all of my treatment was done on the NHS.

So I would say it’s definitely worth asking the question about getting private scans, but check with your team if it will bring things forward.  Unless you’re planning to see a completely different team in the private sector of course.  As Grogg said, the NHS are generally pretty quick in dealing with BC cases.

Wishing you all the best for your treatment.

Loffie x

It took over 6 weeks to get my first consultation at a breast clinic!  I can't see that having a private scan will speed up anything as it is still the NHS team who will need to see these results to be able to create a treatment plan for you.  The MRI usually covers your chest and abdomen which, if the cancer has spread, will cover what is needed.  Please don't think the wait is allowing your cancer to grow bigger.  It is usually slow growing so a couple of weeks won't make much difference.

Hi,

I had my treatment privately but the Consultant still had to take my case to MDT at the NHS, it is protocol that each case is discussed at an MDT even private patients.  My mastectomy was 2 weeks before the NHS could do it, so not a lot of time saved but I wanted it out asap and every day I was worried it was growing, despite being told they are slow growing. As for scans the results of these have been within days, also private, not sure how long the results would take on the NHS.