We have seen that even our King isn’t immune from the dreaded “C” word, but it’s human nature to assume these things only ever happen to other people.
Even I – with a family history of breast cancer and a professional involvement with health and wellness — had jetted off on holiday last July confident that the results from the biopsy I’d just undertaken would be negative.
Unfortunately, a phone call from my consultant received during an otherwise delightful meal in a Tenerife restaurant shattered that illusion.
I had now become one of our 280,000 a year diagnosed with cancer, and the journey I’ve been on during the last six months hasn’t been easy.
But it would have been much harder if I hadn’t been a member of Chase de Vere’s comprehensive private medical insurance (PMI) scheme – which, unlike some newer low-cost schemes, includes cancer cover.
Even though our NHS has an enviable record for cancer treatment, the backlogs are now such that 100,000 patients a year have to wait longer than the stated two weeks to see a cancer specialist, and over 25,000 have to wait more than 62 days to start their treatment.
(Source: The Guardian 7th February 2024)
As confirmed by some of the feedback I gleaned at my breast cancer support groups from women who’d had to go the NHS route, waiting around is the very last thing you want to do if you’re worried about cancer.
Two days after noticing an indentation to my left breast in the shower and phoning my PMI scheme’s specialist cancer line, I was attending an appointment that featured everything from a specialist consultation and ultrasound to a mammogram and biopsy.
It was agreed that the consultant would phone me during my pre-booked family holiday if the biopsy results raised concerns and, whilst the ensuing call didn’t actually use the term ‘cancer’, it referred reassuringly to something caught at an early stage.
It also detailed an appointment arranged on the day of my return. At this I learned that my type of breast cancer was the least aggressive and easiest to treat and that, because it hadn’t spread to the lymph nodes, it would simply require a lumpectomy and radiotherapy.
Unfortunately, however, the subsequent MRI scan revealed a much-bigger-than-expected eight-centimetre tumour, so we were now talking about a mastectomy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
The mastectomy, which involved a five-day hospital stay, took place only two weeks after my original diagnosis. Indeed, the wait was shorter than most people endure on the NHS simply waiting for their biopsy results.
Fortunately, chemotherapy was eventually deemed unnecessary as there was considered little chance of the cancer returning. And, as soon as I had sufficiently healed, radiotherapy took place last November.
If I’d had my radiotherapy on the NHS there would have been a six month waiting list and sessions would have lasted three weeks. But, because I was able to use a private centre in Nottingham equipped with all the latest technology, it was all done in a week.
Furthermore, my insurer paid for the 50-mile each way daily taxi trips from my Leicestershire home.
Even since I returned to work this January, the insurer is still paying for me to have counselling to come to terms with ordeal and for my reconstructive surgery.
I have many reasons to be grateful to Chase de Vere for the way it has treated me during the last six months, especially for enabling me to come back to a temporarily reduced workload. But its provision of the PMI scheme must definitely top my ‘thank you’ list.
Any employers that don’t yet offer such a benefit should seriously consider it as a way of engendering employee loyalty and cutting down on absenteeism.
But there are a confusing array of different cover and pricing formats out there, so it’s essential to use the services of a specialist intermediary to help select the scheme most suited to your company’s requirements and budget.
If you would like to find out more about how Chase de Vere can do to help you identify a suitable PMI scheme, please don’t hesitate to contact us on Tel: 0845 300 6256.
Content correct at time or writing.