'NHS won't pay for post-cancer treatment'
12:53pm Saturday 4th October 2008
Comments (17)A SINGLE mother who is suffering from a medical condition linked to breast cancer surgery two years ago is struggling to find £35 a fortnight for private treatment because the NHS won't fund it.
Julie Hinks, 44, developed lymphoedema - a build-up of fluid in her left arm - after undergoing an operation at Poole Hospital to remove and reconstruct her left breast. She also had several lymph nodes removed to stop the cancer spreading.
Lymphoedema can develop after cancer treatment, making the limb uncomfortable. Sufferers have to be careful not to break the skin because of the risk of infection. The lifelong condition can be relieved by wearing compression bandages or sleeves and by gentle massage.
Miss Hinks, of Talbot Village, Poole, has been going to trained therapist Christine Talbot in Wareham every two weeks for the massage, called manual lymphatic drainage. Bournemouth and Poole Primary Care Trust will not pay, although other patients living in Dorset PCT's area are being funded.
"Christine has written to Bournemouth and Poole, but they don't want to know," claimed Miss Hinks. "There is so much cancer out there and so many women with lymphoedema, the system can't cope. It really is disgraceful."
Miss Hinks, who has been bringing up her two children on income support, was forced to go without treatment for five weeks last Christmas because she could not pay. "My arm was considerably worse," she said.
Last week, she had to borrow from her daughter's birthday money to fund the MLD.
She has now been given a £300 grant by Macmillan Cancer Support. "I'm really grateful, but I've been having this treatment every other week for a year and it's ongoing," she said.
A spokeswoman for Bournemouth and Poole PCT said: "We recognise that this can be a very debilitating condition for sufferers.
"We have a lymphoedema service that people can access via their GP and support them to carry out manual drainage themselves.
"We don't routinely fund this particular treatment, but each case is considered on its merits. We would expect an approach to reconsider to come from the GP."
The spokeswoman added that the PCT had set aside money to improve the lymphoedema service and was also introducing a holistic programme next year to help the growing number of cancer survivors continue with their daily lives.
More health stories in Wednesday's Echo
Your Say YourThisisdorset
Nick, Bournemouth says...
3:05pm Sat 4 Oct 08
Ann Widdecombe
Times, May 21 2005
"Inevitably, perhaps, the issue is being seen as one of a 'right to live', but this is to ignore the much wider question of what we expect or can reasonably expect of the NHS, which has always rationed, is increasingly rationing and which will ration still further. The concept of comprehensive care from cradle to grave has been a myth since the twinkle in Nye Bevan's eye but generations of politicians have paid lip service to it rather than engage the public in a mature debate about the reality."
So.
Well treat you unless it cost money.
Just to re- cap.
If a single doctor withholds a medicine from a patient at the patients request, they get charged with murder.
But,if an organization withholds medicine it is OK?
Something wrong there.
Take the head of the NHS to court for attempted murder, it is his policy
Carl Barron, Dorset says...
5:49pm Sat 4 Oct 08
Quote I hope we have a Conservative government after the next election. They are our only hope
Reply I can't agree with you as to above Sean .
Patients have received much better care and attention under Labour than at any other time in British History.
More money than at any other time has been made available to the NHS system than at any other time.
Where there are and have ben problems in the NHS are mainly down to Bad Management Skills.
Why was I shown equipment stored in Christchurch Hospital that could not be used except for one day a week, as they hadn't the trained staff to use it allegedly?
The Tories don't care a dam about Joe public never will. they never did they
They the Tories only bought votes by allowing Council tenants to purchase thier homes at below market prices. Now there is a serious lack of homes for those on the lower pay scales.
Most of those council tenant sold thier homes at fantastic profit margins.
One lady showed me her beautiful flat in a tower block adjacent to the Boscombe Gardens with un obstructed views towards the Isle of Weight, etc. Worth today about £400,000 she paid £3,000 that's Tory policy for you.
Ferret37, Bos Vegas says...
8:35pm Sat 4 Oct 08
amused, poole says...
6:12am Sun 5 Oct 08
dont think you will find it will be any better,having been through the Thatcher/Major years it was actually worse. All politicians are the same they are only interested in themselves. People forgot about the after effects of Cancer and cancer treatments thinking that once it is treated it all goes away, this lady should not have to pay.
Leigh, Kent says...
8:08am Sun 5 Oct 08
richw, Bournemouth says...
9:00am Sun 5 Oct 08
Leigh wrote:Well said that person
Get her to paint her face black, pretend she cant talk English, problem sorted, she will get anything.
**** antasis peter beneather, claims form cheater deceiter repeater says...
9:26am Sun 5 Oct 08
Ferret37 wrote:persciption lol ol lol aol loaol oziel
If you get a persciption for the medication Just sign the back and say your on the dole , most people do this to avoid paying .
AOL go back to bed Percy aol lol dog~houe innit
Carl Barron, Dorset says...
3:30pm Sun 5 Oct 08
Quote Get her to paint her face black, pretend she cant talk English, problem sorted, she will get anything.
Reply Very well said Leigh .
As they say, " Many a true word spoken in jest".
It may sound somewhat extreme , yet in reality, those who have paid into the so called system are not expected to reap the benefits.
Yet those who come into our country can get all the benefits and those that are True Brits cannot or have to fight tooth and nail to get it.
Are we Brits not Foreigners in our own Country by way of race?
Oh yes, we are not expected to discuss racial aspects or the PC Crowd jump on the band wagon won't they?
Why is it permissible for a foreigner to complain about racial discrimination when a True Brit is NOT?
We are all treated as though we are peasants , in this Hypocritical Loyalist Society.
Hence Mrs Julie Hinks desires all the help she can get in this difficult time.
I know what it's like to be faced with the possibility of life threatening Cancer, hence I am routinely checked myself.
And for those who may say I'm a racist, NO I am not I believe in fairness and justice, plus I have more true friends in the East than I may ever have in the West.
As a matter of interest agpcuks TaskNews Health Page has extensive coverage of the very latest news on Cancer Cures and treatments.
Copy paste link below into your browser:
http://uk.geocities.
com/tasknews/health.
htm
DingDonG, Wilds of Wiltshire says...
4:34pm Sun 5 Oct 08
Read :-
Health trust rebranded
12:55pm today
Now that IS a TOTAL wate of money ! !
Mikeman, Portland says...
5:34pm Sun 5 Oct 08
richw wrote:Leigh wrote:
Leigh wrote: Get her to paint her face black, pretend she cant talk English, problem sorted, she will get anything.Well said that person
Get her to paint her face black, pretend she cant talk English, problem sorted, she will get anything.
Never a truer word. And dont forget to ask where the prayer room is.
jemima33, Parkstone says...
7:07pm Sun 5 Oct 08
stoofur, Christchurch says...
7:29pm Sun 5 Oct 08
the owl, van9 bere says...
8:39pm Sun 5 Oct 08
pachyderm, in t'h ole says...
9:04pm Sun 5 Oct 08
the owl wrote:Ekee thump ar kid- 'tis reet gradely t sithee out pit, lad !
I was a black youth same as all me maerts back in 1953 at fives pit cannock, i cant remember any baths at the pit or at the miners cottage where we all lived, we was black ok at huntington Staffordshire even the privet hedge was black, different for me now though here in dorset finest place i ever lived lots of lady's and cash rich I love it.
Appen as ow as like thee sen know best.
Whre thes muk, thes brass.
the owl, van9 says...
9:35pm Sun 5 Oct 08
amused, poole says...
6:46am Mon 6 Oct 08
Julie Hinks
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West Howe Sean, West Howe says...
2:01pm Sat 4 Oct 08
I hope we have a Conservative government after the next election. They are our only hope to ending corruption in business and providing proper funding for Schools and Hospitals. Now that's a proper use of Tax Payers money.
Propping up failed, corrupt banks and trying to sustain the unsustainable boom is not.