So this is something I’m having checked out. No, no worries, I’m booked in a week after first contacting the private doctor I use.
Skin cancer diagnosis delays caused by lockdowns led to 12,000 years of life lost
Scientific analysis of records from more than 50,000 patients calculated how their disease would have progressed
Just to, you know, check this, the wait for an appointment (non-emergency) on the NHS is 47 weeks after GP referral.
47 weeks if you know someone connected. My possible skin cancer was stopped from being biopsied by the GP because that “may be considered to be cosmetic. Anyway, it doesn’t look serious.”
Fortunately, the private biopsy proved it not to be malignant, but the size of the pot made a bet worthwhile. GPs have transformed from triage to sentries barring the incursion of that great liability, a patient, to snarl up the smooth running of diversity, inclusion and equity organisation.
As Nigel found out, the modern definition of “inclusion” really means “not you, mate”
Sorry, I got a bit self-centered there. Best of luck, Tim.
Sorry to hear that Tim, but very treatable if caught early. Both my parents had it – sunlovers! – but as they lived near the Christie in Manchester they got prompt and excellent treatment on the NHS.
“delays caused by lockdowns led to 12,000 years of life lost”
“Is there an underemployed statistician in the house?!”
Best of luck Tim.
Back in the 90’s, I had a lump smack-bang central on my forehead. I went to the (old-school) family GP. He had a prod and a poke, numbed me up, and cut it out there and then!
Thirty years later, I have a similar lump. I’ve been to my GP twice about it, seen two specialists and had an echo scan done on it. I’m still waiting for a date to have surgery. It’s been 16 months so far!
JFDI seems an alien concept to the post-new-labour NHS.
My spouse was turned away from the GP twice for a suspicious mole they said was nothing to worry about, we then paid for a private GP and it was diagnosed as cancerous. NHS referral for removal would be 42 weeks, so we paid for private. Total cost to us iro £2k.
particularly galling because as an immigrant due to marriage in the queue for residency (5yr waiting list) my spouse has to pay £1000 on top of her taxes in order to access the NHS – apparently this wont be refunded when they are unable to supply the paid for service as above and we have to use private to have the job done,
“delays caused by lockdowns led to 12,000 years of life lost”.
But, but, but those of us who said lockdown / masks / injecting people with an experimental gene therapy would be a disaster were shouted out and told “If it saves one life it’ll be worth it”.
@Zaichik
5 years on the waiting list?
Be quicker for her to pop over to France and catch a lift back on a small boat then claim asylum.
Probably get put at the top of the list for the procedure as well.
It has long been obvious that the country is swirling around the bottom of the bog pan. What is new, and I only realised this three or four years ago, is that it’s all deliberate.
First of all, best of luck Tim.
Here in OZ, a good friend of mine has been through the ringer with melanoma and has had regular skin checks with her GP over the years. The doc found some nasty looking stuff and within a few days she was booked in and had nasties dealt with. Multiple times. That’s a system with a private option for you – essentially no waiting time.
My workplace offers skin checks as part of our employment package – no change to us punters.
WindyPants,
Just F’ing Do It applies to so much of the NHS. A prime example is children having to go under general anaesthetic at hospital for tooth removal, because doing it quickly at the dentists’ would be too painful for the poor little mites. The result is that what used to be a quick operation now takes far more time for the patient, and more money & resources for the NHS.
Best of luck Tim!
If you’d asked to have your cock chopped off I expect you’d be seen sooner.
Last week I had a full health check up in a private hospital in Thailand. Excellent service, excellent nvalue.
As I was there I was looking at price lists and thought – it would be far cheaper for the NHS to buy planes and fly people here for speedy service. And not a diversity officer in sight.
Yeah, best of luck Tim. Hope Portugal is as good as Spain. My brother had skin cancer ten years ago and the treatment he got there was excellent (that was before he found out that Papworth hospital, one of the jewels in the crown of ‘Our NHS’, had missed the damage to his lungs back in the 1990’s which killed him in 2015).
AndrewM @ 12.27. I vividly remember waking up from general anaesthetic at the NHS dental clinic in Oxlow Lane, Dagenham as a sprog. Scarred me for life.
About fifteen years ago I had a small growth removed from my lower lip. I went to my GP, had a prompt referral, had it looked at by a specialist and was booked in as an out patient at my local infirmary. I was due to have a general anaesthetic which I thought seemed a little excessive for such a minor procedure, I mentioned this and was told to discuss it with the surgeon. He said he could do it under local anaesthetic if I was OK with it which I said I was. The lump was sent off to be analysed to make sure it wasn’t anything nasty, the stitches were made of something soluble and fell out after a few days. All in all a fairly satisfactory outcome, is it down to a lottery based on where you live, or have things gone significantly downhill in the last fifteen years?
Hope you’re OK Tim! With most things these days, if they catch it early, you should be OK.
I had one of those ‘check everything’ medical check-ups last year. The doctor asked if there was a specific reason and I explained, not really but I never wanted to be in a position where a doctor was telling me “if only you’d come to me 6 months or a year earlier”.
As it was, they found I had an elevated PSA level (which initially confused me as to me PSA meant “PAYE Settlement Arrangement”). Like you, I have the benefit of private health and have had MRIs, a biopsy and several PSA tests since which haven’t detected cancer and all in a time frame that would probably have beaten the time it took to have a first follow-up appointment on the NHS.
So my advice to everyone reading – go get a PSA test. OK, the follow up might involve having fingers and other things up your arse but it’s better than being told “if only you’d come to see me a year ago”. And of course, if you LIKE having things up your arse, it’s a win-win.
“Andrew M
A prime example is children having to go under general anaesthetic at hospital for tooth removal, because doing it quickly at the dentists’ would be too painful for the poor little mites.”
When I was a kid, our local dentist (an Indian chap) used to do fillings without anaesthetic and tut at how we squirmed. A few years later we found out he was sent back to dentistry school as he basically didn’t know what he was doing. How we laughed. This was back in the late 1960s and early 70s so I’m sure it couldn’t happen now that unqualified people from overseas were employed by the NHS.
Best wishes Tim. It sounds like you aren’t messing around and don’t blame you.
At the start of lockdowns I had a small growth started on the side of my forehead. I sent photos to the doc and he called me in. He was quite adamant it was cancerous but sent the photos to a specialist. He said it he was qualified to take it off but not from my face, apparently some licensing/insurance issue.
It continued to grow and looked quite unsightly but showed no signs of cancer. The NHS wouldn’t operate because thy said it was cosmetic so I went private. That’s anther story but at one point doctors and nurses were running round like Keystone Kops looking for my notes, they didn’t find them so the consultant had to do the whole consulting thing again and get me to sign before he could start the local op. The precautionary tests came back negative after the op.
I should should say I was quite relaxed because or GPs have a very good record of referral if they even suspect cancer, as I found out when my PSA was slightly elevated.
On the subject of PSA, apparently don’t ride a bike 4 days before, ejaculate within 48 ours or carry out any hard physical exercise 24 hours before the blood test.
Use the money, get prompt diagnosis and treatment. We’re not going to let you go that easily!
Sincerely, hope everything goes as well as possible.
BiND
On PSA tests and ejaculation (I wasn’t going to mention this but since you started the topic), after my prostate biopsy I was told “you might have a little blood in your urine or ejaculate for a while afterwards”.
Ok, so first couple of times afterwards that I had a wee, it was indeed a little pink in colour. Soon disappeared.
It was a while before I found out about the other. Being single and sore down there after the op. But eventually, a bit of DIY was required. FUCK ME! It was BRIGHT RED. I mean The Omen, American Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre bright red. If you did that on your missus’ chest she’d run screaming from the room thinking you were possessed. Just a warning, if you’re ever have the same procedure.
BiND
On PSA and related stuff: indeed, there has been a habit of reacting v. quickly to elevated PSA. My own dear little prostate seems to be driven by emotional storms (its, not mine) with wildly varying levels and at times worryingly high ones. Lots of biopsies with no trace of cancer, and eventually an MRI with the diagnosis of cancer. But a follow-up biopsy guided by the positional recordings made during the MRI (neat stuff, as I think I’ve noted before – yes, you too can follow the progress of the biopsy on a giant screen..) showed it was merely inflammation, easily confused with cancer on an MRI (or so I’m told). Quite a relief.
And Tim, yes; best o’luck!.