Private treatment

When I initially went to my GP with swallowing difficulties, he referred me for an endoscopic investigation but warned me that, even red flagged, the waiting list for this could be up to 6 weeks. As my swallowing was getting progressively worse, I didn’t want to risk having to wait this long and decided to self-fund the procedure. It cost £1400 but I also got a CT scan at the same time. Since then, all of my treatment has been NHS. Seems like a lot of money but, if it got my treatment started 6 weeks earlier than it otherwise might have, then it could be the best £1400 I’ve ever spent

Self funding costs of treatment are prohibitively high. You won’t have much change from £100K if you are looking at chemo and surgery. 

Hi lozjay

I am sorry to read about your Nan's diagnosis, and can understand your thought process on private - self funded treatment, but as already mentioned the costs of each individual thing that will need to be done will eventually cost many many thousands of pounds. The blood tests, biopsy's, scans, including ECG and MRI, without the treatment will reach tens of thousands of pounds.  Cancer treatment is extremely expensive, so much so that those with private health insurance often find their insurance company refusing the top of the range treatment, if they believe a cheaper treatment will be as effective. 

You will read and hear several stories regarding NHS delays, but it is important to know that is experience is not the same for everyone, there are guidelines, and strategies in place and adhered too most of the time to ensure delays are reduced to a minimum, so with that in mind, I do hope that Nan and you find that they move quickly to decide the correct treatment and Nan manages to cope with that well. 

Best of Luck 

Lowe'