Cancer patient slams treatment in Britain

CANCER CARE ON NHS FALLS BEHIND EUROPE

Headlines confirm – Europeans live longer after cancer treatment than we do in Britain.

So as a survivor, what do I tell others to do?

I set up this website just to tell others in Britain that you DON’T have to put up with

• delays
• arrogance
• ignorance
• old-fashioned treatment

Shout!  Scream! and go on the Internet to find out what other countries offer their patients, and why most Europeans live longer after cancer treatment than we British.  Then demand the same – or ask your PCT to send you to Europe for treatment.  And if they won’t, look on www.healthspanews.com/NHS-treatment-abroad

Delays.  If you are faced with a delay for screening, use the magic phrase “I think I have cancer”.  Don’t try to be British and say “I think I have a problem.”  Provided you don’t mention cancer, your GP can, and evidence shows they will, delay sending you for screening for up to 19 weeks.

A friend was certain her treatment was being delayed because she wasn’t getting an MRI scan.  So she sent a carefully worded letter to the hospital, implying that the six month delay was unacceptable, and could she have her notes so she could take this up with ‘advisors’.  The next day she had a phone call:  “can you come in for an MRI scan on Sunday?  We have a technician coming in specially”.  The hospital were petrified that she might take legal action.

Arrogance.  I was horrified when my surgeon discussed where I was to have my operation;  I mentioned having it at The Royal Marsden, only to be told he wasn’t happy with this, even though we are told that it is a “world famous centre”.  Unfortunately the anaesthetist normally worked at the Marsden;  she made a complete mess of my anaesthetic;  I had problems for two months after.

Skin lesions all over my body were caused by the drugs I was on.   I was told by a professor of dermatology these were  “due to your age”.  So I went to France, where they are experts at treating drug side effects.  When I came back I bought with me lots of paperwork about clinical trials for the products that had been prescribed, which had saved my skin (and my sanity), offered them to the Marsden, to be told  “we are not interested”.

Ignorance.  When I mention that, in my capacity as a medical journalist, I receive extremely interesting papers on cancer treatment from various world-renowned cancer research centres (sorry, centers!) in the States, most doctors   looked at me blankly.  They just don’t want to know, assuming that us patients have lost our brain cells and can’t tell scientifically-produced research papers – peer reviewed – from dross on the internet.

I have been prescribed anti-depressants, “because you are on so many drugs”.  And when I say that research has proven that these can work against Tamoxifen, I get another blank stare.  Yesterday I discover I should never have been prescribed an aromatase inhibitor because, as I have had polio, I am more likely to get osteoporosis.  Unfortunately I discovered this research too late – and I now have complications of osteoporosis.

Old-fashioned treatment.  I just weep when I contrast the spotless treatment centres I visit in Europe, with the sloppy, old-fashioned curtain-hung cubicles we have to put up with.  And French oncologists rightly asked “why would you want this?” when I asked if they had mixed wards in French hospitals. 

We are part of Europe.  It’ s about time our doctors realised this, and if they can’t give us better treatment, send us to Europe where we can get it.

Tagged as: Clinical trial, Conditions and Diseases, France, Magnetic resonance imaging