My mum cleans for an 85 year old man who lives on his own in our community. He has no children and his wife died 5 years ago. He has Atrial Fibrillation and has stents fitted in his Heart valves - he has had 2 surgeries historically - he was recently admitted to hospital as he thought he was having a heart attack and stayed in for 2 nights. He was told that he is on the emergency list for surgery but this is unlikely to be in no less than a year's time due to the impact the Pandemic has had on the NHS. He took a private consultation only to be told that he will need to have this major surgery immediately, which will cost him £11,000. He has to now sell his car and has given his dog to a friend to look after as he can no longer afford this. He has also stopped his homecare as he needs every penny to save for this Surgery- he has been given the option to pay in installments. We are concerned not only for his financial situation due to what he has to pay to get urgent surgery done, but also for his overall wellbeing as he has to sell his car (reducing his independence significantly) and has given up his dog. Does anybody know of any way this man could get financial help for this urgent, lifesaving surgery, which the NHS are unable to offer in a timely manner, due to the Pandemic?
Financial Help for Urgent Heart Surge... - British Heart Fou...
Financial Help for Urgent Heart Surgery due to COVID-19 NHS Long Waiting Times
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Hello CATswoman.
This is a peer to peer support group for people and support people living with heart problems.
If the surgery is urgent the NHS will do it, maybe he needs to try a different hospital but there is no hold up for urgent cases.
I am going to second above that I have heard from Cardiologists (yes-Congenital Cardiologists ,which is normally the worst subspeciality for waiting times, but maybe different for other s) that all emergancy and urgent procedures were happening and how they were categorizing and doing their patients. They categorised based on how much longer they felt a patient would be stable for.
the quote was like 3 days for Emergency Surgery (where was same day pre-pandemic). Urgent- (within 3 months) were still being offered dates but were often 3-6 months. Anyone triaged below those two time frames could expect to have to wait significantly longer than normal for a date/ basically not recieve a date right now.
What they did say, which is unique to Congenital Cardiac Surgery as so few hospitals can do it, is they were utilising a national waiting list with centres meeting weekly to dicuss emergancy/urgent cases and use the national capacity. Sadly, that meant patients having to be moved by ambulances between centres for surgery and a lot further away from relatives than normal times. The point of This, however, was to keep patients as safe as possible and ensure there was not a postcode lottery for the most in Need.
Many thanks Midgeymoo17 for taking the time to reply and for your reassurance.
Hi I would report to Adult Safeguarding Services at your local council .
If he was having Home Care they may have already of raised thier concerns
Hi Catswoman, if your friend needed surgery ‘immediately’ I am very sure that the NHS would have him on the shortlist. I was told that my surgery needed to be done ASAP and was carried out 12 weeks afterwards despite the pandemic. I hope that he gets the help and support that he needs.
Thank you IrisCarter for your reassurance and advice.
You and your mother have been very kind to this gentleman, who is on his own and it is difficult to be proactive on your own behalf at 85 when clearly you aren't feeling well and not all that long ago bereaved. It shouldn't need a funding drive as he is clearly eligible for NHS treatment. If he needs your input perhaps persuade him to contact his GP and ask what news there is of his surgery (or hospital surgeon's secretary?) or if necessary do it as a one-off his behalf, or , get him to speak to a BHF nurse for advice, or maybe contact his local authority, or speak to someone in Age UK, MP or local councillor. I know they all vary as to how helpful they can be but somebody should be prepared to help and advise and there ought to be somebody able to take some responsibility. Local Social Services should be made aware of him if they aren't already, even if he doesn't want or feel he needs services like meals on wheels, home help If necessary although I daresay it would be a bit of a challenge get publicity from local newspaper because undoubtedly he like many of us and patients of other illnesses is a secondary casualty of the covid virus. Hard though it is I think he would feel better in himself if he could take some action on his own behalf. But it is very distressing to think of somebody at the end of their life in such a situation.
Hi CATswoman,
I needed urgent heart surgery 14 years ago. Really that means 3-6 months ... but as a 47/48 year old single parent I was scared if I didn't have it ... as, up to that point, they had stopped me leaving hospital due to the risks involved. Even so, the local regional cardiac centre (Oxford) couldn't give a clear timeframe for the operation.
Luckily I could pull a BUPA card ... even though I think the NHS should have covered it. (On the day I had the op, the NHS had couldn't afford to use the operating theatre [crazy accounting] so I was operated on at the end of the day's NHS list.)
I was lucky therefore, because 'private' became affordable through my job.
TBH given the uncertainty from the experts, I would encourage your friend to go back to the GP with any updates to prognosis - and check out other centres for availability. If it's emergency or urgent priority, I am pretty sure the NHS will come to the rescue.
Unless he's got a load of money to spare, I really would try not to feel pressurised into private care. It may be that your friend needs an advocate to talk to the GP. Can you help with that? In my experience, even though GPs can't discuss their patients with others without the patients consent, I think they are open to the reporting of genuine concerns about patients. It's obviously easier to do this if your a relative or next of kin ... but there must be many people who don't have such support - where the intervention of a friend can help.
In terms of heart treatment, it's really important to go to the regional centres where the experts are (all NHS but with some private capacity). IMHO private doesn't mean better.
Hope that helps.
David
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