travelbug

Hi, just wanting to know if anyone has had any issues with ongoing medical care (skin cancer related) upon their return to the UK? We should have moved back home last year but unfortunately haven't been able to because of Covid. We hope to move back this year, but my husband has had a recent Melanoma diagnosis. Obviously, we will wait to see what treatment he might require here in Australia first, but if all is okay (which we pray it will be) we hope to continue our plans to get back home nearer to family and friends. We know he will need to be referred for ongoing skin checks etc as quickly as possible once back. I'm assuming that once we are registered with a GP that a new referral should be quite easily arranged? We have ping ponged back and forth to UK / Australia before, but things just seem much more stressful and complicated this time....

Lion in Winter

I don't suppose that referral as such will be a problem, but you might want to wait (which I think you are planning to do already) until whatever treatment he needs is completed since the NHS is very stretched right now due to Covid and from what I read some cancer treatments are getting delayed.

Just fyi, my sister was treated in the UK for melanoma just before all the covid stuff kicked off, and seems to be doing fine now.

travelbug

Thank you for your response. Yes we would definitely wait for it to be "safe" for my husband to return to the UK and we are not wanting to become an additional burden on the NHS at this present time. We just hope that when we're in a position to move that everything flows simply - we know from past returns that it's quite often harder returning than leaving when it comes to getting things sorted out. I'm really glad your sister is doing well after her diagnosis - I wish your sister good health going forwards.

durham_lad

Living in Texas and Louisiana for 29 years I did have a couple of suspicious moles incised and tested while I was there. 2 years after returning my wife noticed a suspicious mole on my back so I went to the GP who agreed with her and said there were 2 other lesions he was suspicious of. He referred me to the skin cancer centre at our local hospital and I was seen 1 week later. The skin doctor said he thought they were probably okay but wanted them incised anyway. The day surgery to remove them was done about 6 weeks later at our local walk-in primary care centre. All negative fortunately.

The NHS speed of response is very postcode dependent I think, so unfortunately it can depend on where you are.

verystormy

I returned from Australia and subsequently needed skin cancer care which was dealt with promptly. I went to see my GP one day, was referred to the hospital specialist who I saw that day. Was booked for surgery which was two weeks later and would have been quicker if I hadn't requested a change of hospital. Follow up was a week after and declared now clear. I had another one appear during the pandemic lockdown. Treatment time was similar though found thankful not to be cancerous. So surgery not required.