NHS

Who's running the funny farm Today two different sides to the NHS. 1st cancer drugs may be with held to help save £100 million but will cost lives 2nd estimated £120milliom spent on holidays- horse riding- summer houses- sat navs-massages and other none essentials for some patients

I am sure my wife's treatment ,4 years so far, and just hopefully one to go will on completion be supplemented by a sat nav to find the riding centre followed by a massage in the new summer house. So let us not be too critical.
The list did not include the flying pig which has just gone past.

Well said, Peter.

PeterP

It's not right that cancer patients should have drugs withheld.

But it's not as easy as you might think to decide what is essential.

My daughter can walk about half a dozen steps with assistance, the rest of the time she is in a wheelchair. She is blind in one eye, and has a tumour behind the other eye. Her left leg is affected by a disease called avascular necrosis, basically the bone is dying. The probability of amputation is very high. She has 2 broken vertebrae and 6 that are full of holes due to osteoporosis, the operation she is due to have on her spine is in 3 weeks.

These are by no means her only health problems, but are the ones that would affect her driving ability.

But her car from before her health failed so catastrophically sits on our driveway. The battery is charged regularly and it is run regularly. It is taxed and insured.

Apart from the tax, which is free as she was already physically disabled before she became so very seriously ill, the car and it's expenses are privately met by us.

The reason for this is that it is her dream of independence to be able to drive again and not have to rely on other people.

And we can't take that dream away from her. I leave it to you to decide if her dream will ever be realised.

She suffers terribly from depression, well who wouldn't under the circumstances, and the little dream she has of being able to drive again is extremely precious. We consider the costs of maintaining her car to be essential.

its true that the state is not paying for the car, we try to buy our daughter as much as we can, because we believe that's the right thing to do. But how long we can maintain that I do not know.

It's just a little white Smart Car. But it's my daughters hope for an independent future.

And that is essential and priceless.

article

priscus, thanks for that. I had already seen it, but many people may not have.

The most important thing is:

'Quality of life'
A spokesman for NHS England said: "Personal health budgets are designed to meet identified health needs in ways that give patients more control over the care and support they receive.
"The spending must be agreed between the individual and the NHS, meet the patient's individual health needs and achieve the desired outcomes.
"An independent evaluation has shown that personal health budgets are cost effective, help people manage their health and improve quality of life."


People can't just go out and spend their budget without any control. All expenses need to be justifiable.

As I said in the first sentence of my last post, it is not right that cancer drugs are being withheld.

Part of my daughters treatment is chemotherapy,so I really do see both sides of this issue at a very personal level.

You need to have the wisdom of Solomon to decide where funds are best spent.

Perhaps if the NHS cleaned up their act regarding Health Tourism they would be in a better financial state.

My daughter has already said she doesn't want to go on, on numerous occasions. So that little Smart Car, as crazy as it may seem to others, is a matter of life or death for us. And we hang on with our fingertips every day.

Jazzy you have posted before about your daughter and how you try to help her in any way you can but you are doing it at your own expense not expecting the NHS to fund it. My wife since her stroke as never used public transport and was frightened and confused to go out on her self. I have through the Neuropsychology Dept(NHS)got my wife to venture out on herself. The next step is to get her on public transport with me then hopefully on her self. She as a concessionary bus pass but I have to pay to use the bus but I don't expect the NHS to fund my bus fares.

Jazzy,
thought we had had a rough time with my wife's diagnosis immediately following our grandsons all clear but you have everything there to contend with.
I do not think anyone is seeking to deprive the genuine cases ,even an element of luxury to ease there suffering either physical or mental, but the continuing bleeding of the service by many non deserving does my head in and detracts from the real needs of so many.

PeterP and Orrellite,

I believe that people understand that genuine cases are deserving.

We do our best to help our daughter every way we can, but after a lifetime of working, our savings are diminishing rapidly, so our ability to cope is under pressure.

My daughter is about to go over to Direct Payments, and she is funded 50% by the NHS and 50% by Social Services. You cannot begin to imagine what you have to go through to achieve NHS funding, for us it was totally harrowing. The interview was by 3 people and took 4 hours.

I have not by any means mentioned all my daughters health conditions, or even the worst of them. There are several that I can't even spell without checking and they are very rare. Most doctors have never heard of them, never mind anyone outside of the medical profession. Our learning curve has been dramatic!

She has been assessed as needing 24 hour care, which she has refused. We do have a carer 12 hours a week at the moment. So the other 6.5 days and 7 nights a week, we are her carers. Mostly me, as she needs help with her personal care, and I sleep very lightly, if at all! I really don't get much sleep, 4 -5 hours is the norm.

The only point I was attempting to make is that what might appear to be non essential, could be vital for someone else, as crazy as it appears to be on the surface.

We are both pensioners. We do ok. But I might as well stand in the front garden burning £5 notes as keep my daughters car roadworthy, but as I hope I've explained, it's essential to her.

I agree that the system is abused, by people from all over the world it seems but we pay enough into it as a nation to be able to help our most vulnerable and sick.

The mismanagement of NHS funding is the place to start I believe. But at a higher level than personal budgets. The abuse of the system by Health Tourists needs to be controlled immediately.

It would be interesting to see how the funding would be if we had a system like other countries do, no health insurance no entry.

I know you both have your own crosses to bear, as do many others on here.

Peter, my best wishes for your wife's recovery. You are a perfect example of how it's not just getting over the physical problems.

orrellite, I know your grandson is doing very well. I hope after your wife's last treatment, she gets the all clear. xxx