- The Observer,
- Sunday March 17 2002
Every week dozens of patients - many on low incomes - avoid life-threatening NHS waiting lists by seeking private treatment in Cape Town or Johannesburg.
Sally Bolton, an NHS nurse from Worthing, found a lump in her breast this year, and with a family history of breast cancer she had great cause for concern. Her GP told her she would have to wait four weeks for the initial visit to a consultant; she knew she would have to wait much longer for treatment.
'It was very, very upsetting. I'd seen a lot of people waiting far too long in the NHS, and as a nurse I don't get treatment any quicker,' she said. She didn't wait for the appointment with the NHS consultant, but instead paid out of her own pocket to go to the Panorama Medi-Clinic in Cape Town.
'I couldn't bear waiting knowing I had this lump inside me, I just wanted to do it all a lot quicker. I flew to South Africa, was diagnosed the day I arrived, and had the lump removed the next day,' she said. 'The treatment cost me £700, and I'm having a holiday at the same time - I'm staying on for another two weeks.'
The low value of the South African rand means that treatment usually costs about half the price it would in a private clinic in the UK or Europe. A breast biopsy typically costs £300, a breast lumpectomy £390, a radical mastectomy £1,000, and a radical prostatectomy £2,600.
A study last week showed cancer services in Britain to be so poor that lung cancer patients are half as likely to survive as those on the Continent. At least 10,000 British cancer patients die unnecessarily each year because of delays and poor treatment, according to another study.
One British patient went to South Africa after she had visited her GP for a pap smear. She got the results 13 weeks later showing that she had cancer, but it hadn't spread. Being told she would have to wait another two weeks to see a consultant, she flew to Cape Town, had another pap smear that evening showing the cancer had advanced, and was operated on the next day.
South African cancer clinics say the number of British patients has grown sharply since the collapse of the rand in December made treatment much cheaper. The Panorama Medi-Clinic now treats five British patients a week, and expects to treat 300 by the end of the year. The hospital is negotiating package deals with airlines and hotels for relatives.
The Department of Health is also seeking to have NHS patients treated there at the taxpayers' expense. The NHS already pays for patients to travel to France and Germany, but this would be the first time it will send patients outside Europe.
