| UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries | |
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SarahN Universal Exports
Posts : 92 Member Since : 2015-03-21 Location : For it will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.
| Subject: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:43 am | |
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http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/24/uk-cancer-survival-rates-trail-10-years-behind-those-in-european-countries?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
"Cancer survival rates in the UK are still lagging more than two decades behind those achieved in many European countries , according to new analysis by campaigners.
Macmillan Cancer Support, which conducted the study, said it was “shameful” that “people were dying needlessly” as it revealed the chances of surviving five of the most commonly occurring types of the disease in the UK trail at least 10 years behind many comparable European countries."
I find this a most troubling report. For me as a woman of a certain age the big C is always a concern, surely more than for many younger folks. Hearing that our health system isn't up to standards on this is more than a bit scary. I don't mind shameful, couldn't care less about hurt egos. People dying needlessly is what angers me.
Apologies if this is too serious a topic.
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Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:06 am | |
| The NHS record on cancer is appalling and has been for many years. It struck me some time ago that the cancer survivors I know have one thing in common; private medical insurance. This should be a national scandal, but the NHS is the nearest thing Britain has to a popular religion and people of faith are generally uninterested in reality. |
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SarahN Universal Exports
Posts : 92 Member Since : 2015-03-21 Location : For it will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.
| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:10 am | |
| With cancer so many things culminate, a very difficult topic. Some screening is encouraged but isn't nearly as reliable as it should be. Resulting often in false diagnosis and surgery. Meanwhile other cases get not the necessary therapy, or too late. I suppose men in general tend to deny the realistic possibility of cancer while often women are only too aware of it. Not sure what is worse here. But the bottom line has got to be that something has to change when it's obviously possible to treat cancer much more successful than is the case now.
Whether private insurance can be the answer is doubtful to me. Since this study compares European countries evidence would suggest public health care is able to deal with modern cancer therapy since that is what most other European countries seem to have. The aim must be to provide the necessary therapy for both I think. |
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Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:46 am | |
| The uncomfortable truth is that many cancer deaths in Britain are caused by delays in NHS screening. If people were seen earlier then many more patients would survive.
It's not that the actual NHS medicine is necessarily inferior - after all, a lot of private cancer treatment is carried out in NHS hospitals - but simply that the NHS takes too long to see people. And that's not because of lack of manpower or other resources, but because of a lack of qualified management and modern IT systems coupled with a Soviet-style bureaucracy and love of committees.
Private health care may not be the answer in all cases, but the true worth of an idea is whether or not it's been adopted by anyone else. No other country in the world runs its health system along the same lines as Britain's NHS. It's not the final word in health care that its politically and ideologically motivated proponents would have you believe.
FWIW, my advice is that anyone aged 40 and over should pay for a full medical examination at least every year. Get bad results early and you stand a far greater chance of survival than if you leave it until its convenient for your health board to see you. |
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SarahN Universal Exports
Posts : 92 Member Since : 2015-03-21 Location : For it will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.
| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:26 am | |
| Well said. It's quite incredible that such findings as mentioned here - and not for the first time either - haven't as of yet urged a reform of NHS, that is long overdue. Since our basic abilities, expertise, manpower, expenditure per capita and so on are comparable to those of other countries the conclusion must be these alarming findings are for the most part result of mismanagement on various levels. That's simply not acceptable, regardless what we make of it in terms of private vs. public health care. |
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Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 11:39 am | |
| And if proper and regular screenings were carried out then the middle aged women I have occasional dalliances with wouldn't ask me to give them a quick breast exam "while you're at it." Oddly enough, when I ask them to return the favour and examine my prostate they often decline. |
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SarahN Universal Exports
Posts : 92 Member Since : 2015-03-21 Location : For it will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.
| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 12:32 pm | |
| Do they? How selfish of them. |
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Salomé Potential 00 Agent
Posts : 3303 Member Since : 2011-03-17
| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:27 pm | |
| There was a series of articles not too long ago about Dutch cancer patients who had been given up in Holland and came to Belgium for treatment and survived. This was linked to budget cuts in the Dutch health care system, which is shocking if true. |
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SarahN Universal Exports
Posts : 92 Member Since : 2015-03-21 Location : For it will come to pass that every braggart shall be found an ass.
| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:12 pm | |
| If this is the cause the entire ethics health care is based on is given up. For what? How depressing. We all sooner or later end up in the age bracket where therapy doesn't look profitable any longer. |
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| Subject: Re: UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries | |
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| UK cancer survival rates 10 years behind other countries | |
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