Nhs Vs Ohip

[stuey]

OHIP being the Ontario Hospital Insurance Plan). The GP diagnosed some skin cancer on my back in late December. I got an appointment to see a surgeon on Jan. 21st. (today). In and out within 3hrs: back in two weeks to have the stitches removed and have the pathology report. I hear a lot of criticism here about the NHS. How does my above experience compare to what you would experience with the NHS: the same, worse, better?...Just out of interest.

[gingejbee]

I do know that the NHS (for all it's faults) moves damn quickly when cancer is diagnosed.

[Sqad]

I would have thought that the NHS would be just as quick in a similar situation.

[gingejbee]

...should have said...hope all goes well on your return to hospital!

[SlackAlice]

My GP gave me some cream for a mark on my back and said return in 7 days.

After 7days my GP referred me to the hospital, appointment made online for 7 days later. Turned up at hospital and they took a biopsy then and there. Results 3 weeks later and medication given (Aldera cream?).

Diagnosis was basal cell carcinoma, which apparently is no big deal (I beg to differ!). All clear after 2 yrs, still have regular skin checkups every 6 mths.

[Mamyalynne]

Glad you had such swift treatment and hope the Path report is good - as others have said for all its faults the NHS also moves quickly in these areas and rightly so.

[tamborine]

Same here but free. How much is OHIP plan?

[stuey]

It's about the 5th incidence of it in the last two years: the nose, neck, and now back. All the others have been basal cell; hopefully this one is too. As Sqad would say..."No big deal":) I think that we have a pretty good Provincial scheme here. It's amazing how many people over there think that we are in the same position as the States when it comes to health care.

[stuey]

Tambo, nothing is "free": we pay for it through our taxes; the same as you I assume.

[tamborine]

I pay £35pm for private ins

[tamborine]

I pay to jump the queue

[gness]

Hi, Stuey....I suspected a cancer on my face......GP told me to watch and wait....it got bigger so I begged and begged for a second opinion.
I waited some time for an appointment to have it examined then about two months for an appointment to have it removed.
The same consultant changed his mind on the morning of the removal telling me it was just a big spot.
I refused to leave...he angrily agreed to biopsy it (warning me that if I ended up looking like Elvis Presley it was my own fault)
During the biopsy he changed his mind and decided it was a cancer....he removed it and made a mess of my face in the process...
When I asked why my face was now a mess he told me to count my blessings....he'd seen worse.....☺

I've had two children....one in England and one in Canada...if you ever decide to become pregnant, Stuey...have the baby in Canada.
Knocks spots off any treatment here.....x

[stuey]

That sounds good. We could buy plans like that also; however, I see no need. If I phone "my" GP with a problem, I'm sure to get an appointment within two week or three weeks if not sooner.

[stuey]

Too old to become pregnant, gness!

[gness]

Me too, Stuey.....but having a Canadian was fantastic.....☺

[dunnitall]

As for NHS when cancer is suspected, not so in the case of daughter who was diagnosed (!) by GP and was told she would be referred but one one month on wasn't until the family complained that nothing was heard! Mastectomy followed eventually...but not as quickly as it should have been! So you were lucky stuey and good that things moved fast for you.

[stuey]

Yes, dunnitall, in any system there are going to be "slip-ups", if that's the correct term. I can't imagine the horrendous logistics in running a national health care system involving , I believe, a population of over 80 million people. Canada has a population of around 35 million and each Province, or Territory, takes care of it's own health system; therefore, making it much easier and perhaps more efficient.

[stuey]

The bureaucracy involved must be below the water-line of the NHS iceberg:)

[Sycamore3House]

Way back in 2001 I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. At the time I had private health insurance via the company I worked for. Three days after being diagnosed I sat with my consulatant who gave me a date 2 weeks later for my operation (radical hysterectomy). I asked if I should go private and his reply was that he would do the op whether I was private or not but I would get better aftercare on the NHS as the nurses we're dealing with this sort of thing all,the time

[Retrochic]

I've had two babies in Paris,one in UK (NHS) and one in Canada (Alberta) and have not found any difference in care other than the food in Paris hospitals is much better lol!.