In other news: water is wet. I think we all knew that Charles wouldn’t have to go through the same pains us common British folk do in regards to accessing healthcare. But nonetheless I think it’s important to continue to highlight these ever growing class divisions in the UK, such as those between people who can afford private healthcare and people who have to rely on our public services. People in positions of authority and power in our country do not understand the struggles of everyday British people.


My TL;DR:

Charles is already receiving expert care for his cancer within days of diagnosis. His speedy treatment should draw fresh attention to the long cancer treatment waiting times that most British people experience with the NHS.

The proportion of patients in England waiting less than 62 days from an urgent suspected cancer referral or consultant upgrade to their first definitive treatment for cancer is 65.2%.

Amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists, record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare. Nearly 300,000 people in the UK have paid for chemotherapy in the last five years.

Survival rates for cancer in the UK lag behind those of other European countries for nine out of 10 of the most common types of the disease.

Researchers said cancer waiting times across the country were among the worst on record, too many cancers were diagnosed at a late stage, and access to treatment was unequal.

Buckingham Palace has not specified whether the king is receiving private healthcare or being treated on the National Health Service.

  • Lmaydev@programming.dev
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    11 months ago

    This is all intentional. They can’t outright privatise the NHS without major outcry so they’ve made it unusable for as many as possible.

    • RobotToaster@mander.xyz
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      11 months ago

      “That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.” — Noam Chomsky.

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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          11 months ago

          Prioritization of public infrastructure never works anywhere ever.

          Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to try and make money out of the post office in the 21st century was clearly an idiot. Mostly all they deliver is letters from my bank telling me that I’ve already paid the credit card bill via direct debit. It doesn’t really need to happen, but it does anyway.

    • Xhieron@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Indeed. As a Yank who always has to pay for healthcare anyway, it’s easy to see the parallels in labor/employment, civil rights, and financial security: We’re facing a global regressive movement from the political right, and those people have no scruples. They absolutely want to claw back every single gain the general public has made in rights and benefits over the last 75 years, and making benefits unpopular is the first step to privatizing them.

      Never forget the NHS, warts and all, is a thing that we Americans would die to have, and for want of it many of us too often literally do.

      • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        An anecdote for anyone in the UK that is leaning towards abolishing or privatizing your NHS.

        I had an appendectomy last year, you know, a surgery that something like 40% of the population will need at some point in their lifetime.

        It cost me $7000, with “decent” insurance (UHC to be clear).

        The final bill pre-insurance was a smidge under $170.000.

        You guys need to burn the Tories down before you end up with the same system. The USA’s healthcare system should be considered an example of what not to do, not a goal to strive for.

        • Pronell@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I work for UHC.

          I think they’re a decent company, considering the industry.

          I’ve made a nice and fairly comfortable career here.

          Burn it all down. Give everyone healthcare.

          I’ll find another job.

          • IndiBrony@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            My girlfriend works for a private company instead of the NHS and she hates it on a moral level, too, but it’s impossible to work for the NHS and keep your sanity. Be it the working conditions, hours, or pay. It’s a shambles and it’s all because we - the stupid public - continue to be suckered into believing it’s good for us.

            Not to mention that the left is fractured. We all want progress, but can’t decide on exactly what progress should look like. Meanwhile conservatives only have 1 real option: Tories.

            I’m convinced at BEST we’re going to have another hung parliament with the bastards ultimately staying in power.

            This country is fucked.

        • EinfachUnersetzlich@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          An anecdote for anyone in the UK that is leaning towards abolishing or privatizing your NHS.

          Fortunately that’s a vanishingly small number of people in the UK, the NHS has almost universal support.

        • Asafum@feddit.nl
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          11 months ago

          It’s so fucked up because not only are these assholes ruining another countries healthcare, they also are giving ammunition to our shithole country to never implement a universal healthcare system…

    • soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz
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      11 months ago

      Does anyone care about major outcries in UK anymore? What do they ever achieve?

      People forget and move on after a couple weeks of anger

      • Lmaydev@programming.dev
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        11 months ago

        They still need to get elected to carry out their plans.

        Even the most zealous Tories I know are planning to vote against them this time.

        Most of their voters aren’t rich people and they need to keep them on side.

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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          11 months ago

          It doesn’t matter how much money you have, if you’re a Tory voter you never think you have enough money. The fact you don’t have enough money is always the government’s fault mostly due to immigration either there’s too much of it, or not enough of it depending on your bank balance. Conservative voters only like the Tories come election time, the rest of the time they can’t stand them like the rest of us.

          • Lmaydev@programming.dev
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            11 months ago

            In my experience that isn’t true.

            They think the Tories are doing good and if they mess something up labour would definitely have messed it up worse.

            The ones I speak to genuinely support their policies even if they can’t name any when asked haha

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        11 months ago

        I don’t know what you mean people are still very angry about all this, but we’re not going to have riots in the street over it. I kind of wish we would in a sort of way, but realistically simply voting the idiots out is probably the best way to deal with the problem.

        Of course Labour have their own issues but I feel like their issues that might actually be fixable, whereas the Tories just don’t care.

      • HauntingScience@programming.dev
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        11 months ago

        LMAO my comment saying that cancer got a king was deleted by mods because I guess you can’t say anything bad about the king here. Classic.

          • HauntingScience@programming.dev
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            11 months ago

            It seems it wasn’t deleted from this community server, so I retract my comment!

            It makes me happy that this community is ok with it, seems someone at lemmy.world didn’t like it and I’m still not used to have deletion messages from servers that I didn’t post in.

            lemmy.world

            5.0.1: Before using the website, remember you will be interacting with actual, real people and communities. Lemmy.World is not a place for you to attack other groups of people. Every one of our users has a right to browse and interact with the website and all of its contents free of treatment such as harassment, bullying, violation of privacy or threats of violence.

            LMAO I guess the king should feel free of harassment in case his eminence wants to visit Lemmy in between not doing anything and not doing anything at all.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    11 months ago

    Very similar to the vibes of that coronation photo where he is riding in a golden carriage over a ruined street where every pothole is hastily filled with sand.

  • Overzeetop@beehaw.org
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    11 months ago

    A proper leader would ensure all of his subjects are treated before him. If he wishes to speed his own process he should fix the system, not circumvent or commandeer it.

      • GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukM
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        11 months ago

        It’s entirely possible. He is fond of it, and has a dedicated 'path
        I’ll say my usual thing about homeopathy: It doesn’t directly help conditions. But belief in the treatment can have beneficial outcomes.
        In the same way your mum bringing you your favourite chocolate bar might help.

  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    Oh, maybe he’s is not being treated on the island meaning Britain, … but that other one where doctors regularly fly in.

  • dunestorm@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    This country and the people who run it is a fucking joke. This is no different to Victorian era shit, except we’re supposed to be more civilised nowadays and accept these freeloaders to get preferential treatment? Fuck off, paid thieves is what they are.

  • ebits21@lemmy.ca
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    11 months ago

    He’s the monarch…. I’m … not surprised in the least.

    Banish the monarchy if you want to complain.

    • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Banishing the monarchy won’t help the problem of long waiting lists though. At least is has brought the issue to the front page and people are aware of the seriousness of the problem. Let’s hope they vote for a party that will do something about it in the next elections

    • soggy_kitty@sopuli.xyz
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      11 months ago

      It would be nice if you could abstain from paying a proportion of tax to the monarchy and making it opt-in to support it

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    11 months ago

    Of course he didn’t have to wait he’s probably going private, which other people could do too. This isn’t an issue of him being a king, and everything to do with him being rich.

  • Potatofish@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    But he’s such a stand-up guy. We should totally stop everything and treat this manchild. After all, what would we do without him??

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Hundreds of thousands of cancer patients in the UK are being forced to pay for private treatment amid record NHS waiting times, according to data obtained by the Guardian.

    Amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists, record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare.

    On Monday, the king spent the night at his Clarence House home near Buckingham Palace after beginning a series of outpatient treatments within days of his diagnosis.

    The cancer was discovered when Charles stayed three nights last month in the London Clinic, an exclusive private hospital in Marylebone, where he underwent a corrective procedure for a benign enlarged prostate.

    “It is vital that people come forward if they are concerned about cancer symptoms – getting checked early saves lives,” a spokesperson added.

    On Tuesday 27 February, 8pm-9.15pm GMT, join Denis Campbell, Narda Ahmed, Siva Anandaciva and Greg Fell as they discuss what an alternative manifesto for health and social care could look like.


    The original article contains 652 words, the summary contains 158 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Flax@feddit.uk
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    11 months ago

    I’d be more annoyed if a rich guy didn’t use private healthcare tbh.