Recommended hospitals/clinics in the UK or Germany? or feedback on Oncologica

Hi optimist. Welcome to the group but sorry to hear about your mum. 

Are you and your mum currently living in the uk? How has she been having treatment up to this point if not through private insurance?

Please do not lie to the insurance company. They do a thorough investigation on claims. and the truth will come out. Not only will the insurance company refuse your mums treatment, but it is fraud and you could end up in a lot of trouble. 

I think the best clinic for your mum would depend on which area you live in. Treatment can be very tiring, so a long journey to each session is not ideal. 

I had not heard of Oncologica so I looked them up. They seem to be promoting Covid PCR tests more that cancer research. I would be very wary. 

I am not sure if there are many people here who are receiving private health care, but hopefully someone else will be along soon to chat to you about this. 

Hi Chelle,

I'm in the UK (British) but my mum is in Egypt and she is not British. She will be coming to the UK for treatment.

I live in central London, so most major hospitals are not far from me.

Thanks for your comment about private health insurance. I don't think it's a good idea either but the cost of treatment is going to be 50-100 thousand from what I understand which is a lot, so I'm looking at all my options. The good news is that, I think she can get treated via the NHS so we will try that route when she is here. That would be great cost-wise but I don't know how fast they are, I heard the NHS can be very slow and have long queues.

About Oncologica, I couldn't find much information either. I'm not sure if it is worth it but they seem like they provide a comprehensive analysis.

I understand you're not familiar with private health care. How do you select which hospital/specialist to go to after you get referred by the GP? Does the GP do the selection for you?

Ah I understand. Hopefully your mum will be able to have treatment under the NHS, but I am not sure how that works either if she isn’t a British citizen. I wonder if you contact  your local citizen Advice bureau if they may be able to advise you with this? They will at best be able to tell you in which direction you need to go to find out if she will be eligible. 

When my mum had ovarian cancer, she was being treated under the Marsden hospital. They had a new drug they wanted to try her on, but it wasn't covered by the NHS. The cost for this drug was £30,000 per month, so I do know how expensive private care can be. Unfortunately it wasn’t an option for my mum in the end and we lost her in 2013.

When you are diagnosed on the NHS you are usually treated at your nearest hospital. I say usually because you can choose where you are treated. My lung cancer is a sarcoma, and at the time of my diagnoses I was lucky to be living in a town with one of the top sarcoma oncology departments. I have since moved and although there is another hospital close to me here, I still choose to stay with my original oncology team. 

We are incredibly lucky to have our NHS. All cancer diagnoses do seem to take a long time, but there is process called a pathway which has to be followed. There are also guidelines which need to be adhered too, 

The NICE guidelines regarding treatment and diagnoses are:

• no more than 2 months (62 days) wait between the date the hospital receives an urgent referral for suspected cancer and the start of treatment
• no more than 31 days wait between the meeting at which you and your doctor agree the treatment plan and the start of treatment

Of course if your mum does come here and is able to get NHS treatment, she would have to start at the very beginning of this pathway. 

I think you have to do a lot of research to find out if treatment here is possible, or the cost of private treatment before you bring your mum over. It’s a very difficult situation, and I can fully understand you just want to be with your mum.  

Hi Chelle,

I'm sorry you had to go through that in 2013. It's ten years ago so I hope you are in a better place now but it not something we want to/can forget.

Regarding going to a GP. We have already booked with a private consultant (The London Clinic) and they will update her GP records, so I believe when we go to a GP, we should be able to fast forward the "suspecting cancer" case and get a referral for treatment straight away. What do you think? We will find out anyway, so it's not an important question for now.

I have just called the Royal Marsden and we will book a consultation with them too. I heard they are the best cancer hospital in London. I just hope that we will be able to afford their costs, because they're probably the most expensive too. I also hope that it will eventually work out. My mom was treated in 2020 and the cancer was cleared and now it's only a 2 cm tumour in one lung so I do hope it's treatable and this time it won't come back because the treatment should be better (UK compared to Egypt where she was treated before).

Thank you again for your help. I know you know how much I appreciate it given your experiences with your mum and your own situation.

The Royal Marsden do have a very good reputation. Private treatment is quicker than NHS and those guidelines I have mentioned are purely for the NHS.

Good luck to your mum. When is she due to come over? Let us know how she gets on.