King Charles

Hope that King Charles recovers, what I don’t get is that Harry came all the way over from USA just for apparently 45minute meet up with his father. Could he not have made it his worthwhile and stayed at least a few days.

We can afford to pay the doctors and stop the strokes, we can’t afford not to

Grantanow I have an issue with your last paragraph.

Waiting times in some NHS trusts are not meeting the Government guidelines we all know that. The pandemic and subsequent shut downs of the majority of GP’s face-to-face appointments added considerable to the current cancer crisis

Also whilst not being the cause, the doctors along with nurses strikes have added to the waiting times. Patients cannot be treated if there are no staff on shift to treat them.

The bottom line is we need more NHS staff to be available to work, not standing on the roadside with placards or emigrating to work elsewhere.

More places at medical school need to be available, go back to some nurses not having to go to University (I think it used to be SEN’s and SRN’s)

The King is fortunate not to have to wait for treatment. The target for NHS cancer treatment after diagnosis is that 85% of patients should wait no longer than 62 days. In fact that target has not been met since 2014. About 60% of patients begin treatment by the target date. That means (1) 15% are intended to wait longer than 62 days and (2) 4 out of 10 patients experience delays beyond the target date.

In my opinion none of that is acceptable and I'm sure the King would not find it acceptable. The Tories have been in power since 2014 so the problems can't be blamed on strikes or the pandemic. Do they care at all?

Good on him speaking out, cant be anything more than positive. He will have the very best private health care, no waiting list to contend with. Good luck to them all

Well we don't pay for our RF, we did once that is true. The Sovereigns grant act 2011 sets a single grant to support the Monarchs official business to enable the Monarch as H of S to discharge his duties. The Prince of Wales is supported by the Duchy of Cornwall. Other members of the RF support themselves except when they're on official business. HM will be paying for his hospital treatment the same as any other wealthy person. Prince William will be paying those school fees, the tax payer does not.

Calendargirl

What if it wasn’t the King we’re discussing?

What if it were Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Tom Jones to name just a few elderly, very wealthy celebs who, if God forbid, were diagnosed with cancer or similar?

I imagine they would be using some of their money to pay for the speediest, most effective treatment they could source? And why not?

Why all these gripes about Charles? Yes he’s immensely wealthy, privileged, fortunate in so many ways.

And he also has cancer.

I think the difference when talking about wealth and what causes resentment from some is the fact that we pay for our RF. Just answering your question.

I do feel sorry for Charles, and hope he makes a good recovery, as I do my sister. His family will be just as worried as we are. And I think they should all be given some privacy right now. And we should stop talking about it. My sister refuses to talk about it and just wants to spend time with her family. I'm sure Charles feels the same.

I find Whiffs post interesting. That such a high percentage ignore tests. Hard to understand. And must put the NHS under pressure when people are diagnosed late.

We had private medical care when my husband was diagnosed with cancer of the prostate (already high grade and metastasised into his bones. We did not use it for the cancer treatment (chemo, radiotherapy for pain, and a new form of radiotherapy (didn’t work and made things worse but it was a trial). We did use it for the several operations he needed to keep him comfortable. The NHS was both brilliant and awful, he was unable to pass water and had to wait 26 hours for surgery (NYE), imagine how that would have been for him. He was on a steel trolley for 26 hours with sepsis another time. Emergency care is NHS only. He lived nine years and I can’t count the number of people who told us we were lucky. Living with cancer was horrendous for him, constant bone pain, water issues, kidneys etc etc. We were not lucky at all. We did treasure the time, it’s all I can say.

Well, the royals have always led a life that is far removed from "ordinary" people.
I wouldnt expect anything less when one of them is ill.

Cancer is a b***ard.

The moment that sticks in my mind is my darling mum, DD, DGS and myself in M & S cafe, Lakeside when a lady on the next table commented on how lovely, four generations out together having fun

I knew that this would be our last trip altogether, and smiled whilst crying inside.

(My mum went into the local hospice the following week, the lady commenting obviously hadn’t seen Mum’s wheelchair or how we struggled to get her from it onto the seating)

We are lucky to have our memories, cancer doesn’t differentiate between poor or rich, king or commoner.

I skimmed the DM on line earlier. What a nasty rag it is. Stirring hatred and dissent, distorting its ‘news’ to suit whatever agenda suits.
I wish we could shut it down for 6 months, as an experiment. My prediction is we’d be a happier country 🌞

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I'm glad you had some good times through, in between the horror... you know...

Yes MissA, despite the tough times, we knew we had blessings to count

I could fill the thread up with things that more money would have helped with, but then that is the same across the board, and part of life.

Money eases the practical pressures. We spent a chunk of our savings in the 6 months my husband was being investigated, then treated. The money went on a gardener, dog Walker, cleaner, expensive ready meals, sustenance at the hospital cafe where I spent long days - to name a few. We took our children and their families away for a lovely holiday together.
We were so fortunate to have savings that eased our way.
One of the many positives at The Christie, our wonderful cancer hospital is the free parking.

Money would have certainly eased an already terrible situation when my daughter was ill.
No scrambling around finding parking, no bus rides to and from the hospital; all manner of things.
The outcome would have been the same though.

Doesn't matter how much money you have it can't buy health and happiness. Otherwise no multi millionaires would die or have unhappy lives.

If money could have kept my husband alive we would have gone into debt . But it wouldn't have . And can't complain about the NHS care he had and our wonderful McMillan nurse. When my husband had cancer it was 1 in 3 got it now it's 1 in 2. And that's down to people being more aware. But what annoys me is the amount of people who don't go for cancer screening when invited. When I had my mammogram last year 6 people hadn't turned up nor phoned to cancel . 6 people could have had those appointments. My brother knows someone who tests the faecal samples for bowel cancer and said they only get 60% of tests back out of all the kits they send back. It's not as if it's hard to do today's test kits are better than my first one at 60. It was a large cardboard strip with 3 flaps and 6 cardboard strips to smear 2 samples of poo under each flap and needed 3 bowels movements before you could sent it off. Today it's just a tube with liquid in and you just smear bit of poo to fill in the groves on the stick and put into the tube and send off.

We are lucky we can get screening for some cancers. But some people either are scared or just can't to be bothered. But they will be the ones jumping up and down demanding help straight away.

A friend of my late mom refused to have a mammogram . She found a lump 9 months after her invitation for the test by then it was to late to save her . If she had the mammogram they would have saved her.

If you get invited to have tests done don't hesitate it could save your life. Unfortunately for my husband he's cancer appeared very quickly and there was not treatment for grade 4 malignant melanoma. He was given 5 years in 2001 and lived 3 But now there is treatment that can extend your life with that cancer . Which may same weird but that makes me happy .

There is an aspect that I think hasn't been considered here: not all cancers are equal. The very word generates fear but some cancers simply do not require rapid escalation while others need the fastest possible investigation, diagnosis and treatment. My family's current situation reflects both ends of the spectrum. Does that mean that one has received better care than the other? Not at all. Both have received appropriate care. I'm well aware that our experience isn't everyone's experience and sometimes the service falls short but bald statistics don't tell the whole story.

I agree that it is positive that more men will be getting checked.

What if it wasn’t the King we’re discussing?

What if it were Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Tom Jones to name just a few elderly, very wealthy celebs who, if God forbid, were diagnosed with cancer or similar?

I imagine they would be using some of their money to pay for the speediest, most effective treatment they could source? And why not?

Why all these gripes about Charles? Yes he’s immensely wealthy, privileged, fortunate in so many ways.

And he also has cancer.

Re the discussions about speed of starting treatment - DH's cancer was discovered when he had an MRI after an accident. It was a hard to diagnose cancer and he had a rare version (naturally) so it took over a year to confirm the suspicion. Not for want of effort by the team involved. Once it was confirmed treatment started the following day.

Glorianny If Charles was a normal 75 year old he would not have to worry about losing his job because he would most probably be retired.

Luck will only come into it if he has a good response to treatment with the minimum of side effects. If he's in for the Much worse before it gets better scenario all the home comforts in the world won't help much until it's over.

Glorianny

JenniferEccles

Oh not another thoughtless ‘Charles is lucky’ comment.
Look, he’s not lucky. The poor man has cancer.
Yes he has been diagnosed and treated swiftly but everyone is fast tracked if cancer is suspected.

OMG Of course he is lucky. Just over 50% of patients get treatment within 2 months. They are all lucky. Some wait longer, they aren't.

He's lucky in lots of other ways as well. He won't have the money worries many have, he will have staff to wait on him he'll be able to afford to heat his home and he won't worry about the rent or mortgage. He can step back from his job and not worry about losing it.

Of course all cancer diagnosis is awful. But let's not pretend that every experience of cancer treatment and every cancer journey is the same, because there are things which make both of those things easier for some people, people like Charles.

He's lucky in lots of other ways as well. He won't have the money worries many have, he will have staff to wait on him he'll be able to afford to heat his home and he won't worry about the rent or mortgage. He can step back from his job and not worry about losing it.

But we know all that Glorianny, it's the result of the political system that most people at the moment appear reluctant to want to change. And carping about Charles won't change anything, we need to have serious debate about what kind of society we want. He's just part of it, part of the status quo.

... and in the small hours of the night when thoughts of your own mortality haunt you - the what ifs, the fear of the unknown...I doubt his warm home and wealth will be of much comfort when he's pondering the outcome of his cancer. He' will be scared like any other human being.

Have I said money eases grief?
Like every other service in the NHS there are areas of excellence where people receive absolutely the very best treatment. There are others where improvement is needed.

Why looking at the treatment he receives and saying he has been lucky upsets some so much I do not know? He has. Some are. Others are not.
Perhaps with such a prominent public figure we could take a good look at cancer treatment and ask why targets are not being met? But apparently that is too much for some people.

If you have had good or excellent treatment for cancer I'm pleased for you, but that isn't everyone's experience.