King Charles

I wish Charles all the best with his cancer treatment.
I would like everyone to be treated as quickly as him, and my family members were, but does having cancer make him lucky, however speedy his treatment is?

If he wasn’t being treated, would somebody else be treated instead?
Speed of treatment is sadly back to luck (my family) or money.

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.

Not everyone is fast tracked if cancer is suspected, fast track depends on a range of symptoms/results.
Last year l had 4 out of 5 symptoms that could indicate cancer and have been referred but not fast tracked, due to the previous cancer my GP is particularly
concerned but that doesn't count towards fast track. I've now been waiting since November for hospital appointment. My GP advised it may be 'some time' and to push for an earlier appointment myself.
It may well differ according to Health Authority.
I've no problem with King Charles getting treatment whenever/wherever, everyone deserves only best wishes in these circumstances.

Money doesn’t ease grief

Callistemon21

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.

lucky

It's just dreadful, isn't it.
Just to get a point across. On and on and on.
😡

As someone who has had three separate cancers over a 35 year span I must be one of the "luckiest" people ever. Actually I do think I've been extremely lucky, the NHS has saved my life twice, private medicine the middle time. OK the NHS didn't provide a private room serviced by "silver service" dining, but it provided all that was needed to save me, and still provides ongoing care and surveillance.

Some people have experienced faster, more effective NHS care than others, should we downgrade everybody to the lowest common denominator in the pursuit of "fairness"?

You just know that many complaining about the King wouldn't bat an eyelid at many others getting the private or NHS fast track. Do we really believe Starmer, Sunak or even Corbyn would not get the super express track?

every cancer journey that bloody inane phrase again! Cancer is not a journey, it's a frightening destructive disease that tears into the hearts of families. Of course if Charles should die from this cancer his wealth and prompt treatment will mean so much less grief and angst for his family.... or maybe not!

Money cannot ease all

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.

I certainly don't begrudge the King his early treatment, the sooner the better as far as I am concerned. I have had bladder cancer and breast cancer in 2017-18 and I received very good treatment both times. With the bladder cancer within days of the diagnosis I started chemo and once I'd built my strength back up after that finished I had surgery. During a routine scan a year after the surgery a lump was discovered in my breast, I was referred immediately for a lumpectomy which they sent away for genome testing and luckily I was told that chemo would not be effective for the type of cancer I had and I had 3 weeks of radiotherapy insted. All this on the NHS.

Yes Callistemon
It’s never ending.
I wasn’t going to bother commenting but I just hate this
‘he is lucky’ insistence.

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.

lucky

It's just dreadful, isn't it.
Just to get a point across. On and on and on.
😡

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.

And actually targets are not being met
Cancer waiting time standards are meant to reflect the minimum we expect for cancer patients, and right now in England every cancer target is being missed, and has been missed for years.

The 62-day target hasn’t been met since 2015, over seven years ago, and currently only 59% of patients are meeting the standard*, well below the target of 85%. The NHS announced today that they are aiming for 70% of patients to begin treatment within two months of their urgent referral by March 2024. It’s positive that the NHS is turning their attention to improving performance against this important standard, but that the aim for this year is significantly below the formal target of 85% is both a reflection of how challenging the current situation is and the need to go further and faster to tackle long cancer waits
Imagining that cancer treatment for all is as good as that being provided for Charles is pure fantasy. Of course there are areas of excellence, and people who have early treatment like him, but like the rest of the NHS cancer treatment suffers from underfunding.

Rosie51

Glorianny do you have figures for other people who like Charles, had a definite unexpected diagnosis of cancer purely as a 'by-product' of a standard procedure? The figures you've given are for patients being processed from first suspicion of a cancer, and some of those will have had treatment start very promptly. Indeed many on this thread have detailed their own or family's very rapid progress to treatment.

He would come within the 65.2% who began treatment within 62 days of an urgent cancer referral I would imagine, since he had prostate treatment which revealed the underlying cancer. Basically that is just over 50% getting treatment within 2 months of diagnosis. So not many within 2 weeks

Glorianny do you have figures for other people who like Charles, had a definite unexpected diagnosis of cancer purely as a 'by-product' of a standard procedure? The figures you've given are for patients being processed from first suspicion of a cancer, and some of those will have had treatment start very promptly. Indeed many on this thread have detailed their own or family's very rapid progress to treatment.

Oh, and thank you, too 🙂

Yes’ hello Miss Adventure - I’ve missed you

Thank you 🙂

Charles is one of the lucky people who get early cancer treatment
28-day Faster Diagnosis:
• 71.9% of people were told if they had cancer, or if cancer was
definitively excluded within four weeks (28-days) of an urgent referral
(71.1% in October 2023)
31-day Combined:
• 90.1% of people treated began first or subsequent treatment of cancer
within 31 days of receiving a decision to treat/earliest clinically
appropriate date (89.4% in October 2023)
62-day Combined:
• 65.2% of people treated began first definitive treatment of cancer within
62 days of an urgent suspected cancer referral, breast symptomatic
referral, urgent screening referral or a consultant upgrade (63.1% in
October 2023)

MissAdventure

I dunno. 😂
I've lost track of it all now, and I'm not bothered, so I should mind my own business and stay out of these threads.

I’ve missed that. Good to see you again.👍

So sad , cancer affecting so many on GN

lemsip

op posted on 5 feb at 6pm now 7th 8pm and 15 pages already!

Incredible init!

I'd not know about any of this as I tend to read news, mostly economics. However, I'm always able to read RF 'news' on GN.

op posted on 5 feb at 6pm now 7th 8pm and 15 pages already!

The lies he told!

Jaberwok

Sorry I can't agree about Prince Harry. The Kings life is not in danger so why charge 5.000 miles at the drop of a hat to see him? Surely he could have talked on Facetime or whatever and arranged a time convenient to the King to visit, not just turned up. When the King was thought to have a benign problem, there was no question of a visit, so tbh, I cynically regard this as a PR exercise and maybe a money seeking exercise too. Let's hope any conversation remains private and not used for financial purposes. No wonder the rest of the RF gave Harry a wide berth, that's what happens when trust completely breaks down, it's difficult to recover. He's gone back now, sighs of relief all round?!

I thought exactly the same Jaberwok I don’t trust Harry one little bit, and he hasn't even betrayed me but when someone shows you who they are, believe them … so I do.

I was neither for or against Prince Harry until Spare.

I do not think washing one’s dirty laundry in public is appropriate for anyone.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be bothered but experienced betrayal and lies and know the hurt , it’s so wicked