The scan before the treatment
Rekha
A subsidised scan turned an indefinite wait into a diagnosis, and a diagnosis into a treatment plan.
I was not waiting for treatment, I was waiting to find out what I had.
Rekha had been carrying a referral slip for several months. Her doctor wanted a scan before deciding anything further. The scan was not the treatment; it was the step before the treatment, and it was the step she could not take.
She came to the hospital's outpatient desk with the slip and was referred to the trust's assessment. Household income, existing debts and who else depends on the same earnings are what the assessment asks about. It does not ask for a story.
Her application was approved under the subsidised investigations programme, which reduces the cost of tests and scans for patients assessed as unable to meet it. The scan was done the same week.
The result was not what anyone had hoped for, but it was specific. A treatment plan follows from a specific finding in a way it never follows from a suspicion. Rekha is now being seen on a schedule rather than turning up when things get worse.