Cancer treatment wait times for returning UK citizen

[Stuee01]

Hi everyone,

I have been here for the last 2 years on behalf of my partner and your advice and support has been amazing. We have gone through one recurrence and my partner is now on Lynparza, though we don't know if it's working yet.

I have a question that I hope some of you in the UK can help answer. My partner is from Manchester and is a UK citizen. But she has been living in Hong Kong for the last 10 years. Her parents really want her to return to the UK but from what I currently read about the NHS, wait times are horrible overall, including cancer treatment. My thought is that because my partner has been a non-resident of the UK for so many years, she has an extra long wait time to access care, which is dangerous since she has already had a recurrence here. She would have to go back to establish residency, see a GP then wait for a cancer specialist...etc...which could take months. Also, with many of the drugs, she may not even be approved for since she is BRCA negative. Even now with Lynparza, we are paying out of pocket as we are accessing private healthcare here.

Can someone who is accessing care with the NHS shed some light into this for me since I am not from the UK but from Canada? Any thoughts on this would be helpful!

Thank you so much!

Steph

[Jud15]

Hi, this link may help to answer a few questions: Using the NHS when you return to live in the UK

Sorry for some reason it wouldn't let me copy the exact site directly. It comes up under govt web pages.

[Stuee01 in reply to Jud15]

Thank you

[OvacomeSupport Partner My Ovacome Team]

Hi Stuee01

Here is the link Jud15 mentioned: gov.uk/guidance/using-the-n...

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Anna

Ovacome Support

[KelOC38]

Hello, I lived in HK and returned to the UK a few years ago. When I returned I just rang up the GP and registered the family. This was done quickly and we didn’t have any issues even though we’d been out of the country for a long time. If you’ll be returning to Manchester you could ring your partners parents GP and speak to them about your wait times. For a general appointment I can usually ring at 8am and get an appointment that day. I was only diagnosed with OC last year and I accessed my private insurance through my husbands work as I had a bad experience with local hospital. I am on the same tablets but my understanding is that they’ll only be prescribed if you’re BRCA 1 or 2 and that’s private or NHS. I’m not sure if your partner is in active treatment? You could also speak to a private oncologist and see what they’ve got to say? Do you have insurance through your jobs in HK? Our insurance covered us in the UK when we worked there and we could access medical care here in the UK have you explored that option if it was just for a chat with someone? Good Luck! Love Kelly

[Stuee01 in reply to KelOC38]

Hi Kelly!

Thank you for your detailed response. With the link that is was provided above this thread, the process to just establish residency again in the UK is time consuming. Also, I have heard from a lot of folks that the NHS system is super overloaded and like you said, the care is really not the best right now. I think it's also due to recovery from the covid impact. We don't have insurance unfortunately through our jobs so accessing private care in the UK would undoubtedly be even more expensive I feel than private care in HK.

Thanks again for your feedback! Also hope you are doing well.

-Steph