A FATHER-OF-TWO from Lanarkshire with a life-threatening heart defect says he will raise £25,000 to have keyhole surgery done privately in England after he was turned down for the procedure on the NHS.
Mark Hamill, 54, from Cumbernauld was diagnosed with mitral valve disease in 2011 and in June 2017 his cardiologist told him the faulty valve had developed a potentially deadly leak and had to be repaired or replaced.
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Mr Hamill, who runs a family mechanics business, was initially referred by NHS Lanarkshire to the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank for a procedure known as a sternotomy. The operation is used for the majority of cardiac surgeries but it is highly invasive, requiring the surgeon to cut through the breastbone to open up the chest cavity.
It takes patients an average of two to three months to recover from, including a six week period where they are unable to drive.
Mr Hamill, who almost died after losing a lot of blood during previous surgeries, said he was anxious about the risks.
He said: "I've had two surgeries in my life and both of them were total disasters to say the least. I don't want to go through that again.
"If they're going to saw my chest open there's the additional blood loss, additional chance of infection, additional chance of complications."
Instead, Mr Hamill is pursuing a keyhole procedure available on the NHS in England, but not currently performed in Scotland, called minimally invasive mitral valve surgery.
Although the repair or replacement of the mitral valve uses the same technique as a sternotomy, the procedure is around £5000 cheaper for the health service, partly because patients spend less time in hospital. There is also less risk of infection and most patients will have recovered within three weeks.
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Mr Hamill said he was initially told by his cardiologist in Glasgow that the referral would depend on cost.
He said: "Initially the response I got was that it would be down to money.
"But soon after they found out that it was £5000 less, it quickly turned around to being about clinical need. It became 'is it clinically better for you and can you prove it?'."
He said he feels clinicians have "closed ranks" on the issue. He is pursuing a complaint against his cardiologist, who he said submitted a "weak" letter of support to NHS Lanarkshire despite telling him face-to-face during consultations that the keyhole surgery would be better.
Mr Hamill's referral request has now been declined by NHS Lanarkshire, but he is appealing the decision. Jamie Hepburn, SNP MSP for Cumbernauld, has also written to Shona Robison about the case.
Mr Hamill said he had been told his health will become critical unless he has surgery within six to nine months. However, he said he is still set against the sternotomy, even if it means paying for keyhole surgery himself.
He said: "I'm considering paying for it myself and going down to Liverpool. It's £25,000 privately. But I don't see why I should. I've worked every day of my life. I don't smoke - I've never smoked. I look after myself, I pay my taxes like everybody else, my family all work, so I don't see why we should have to pay for something that the NHS should be picking up."
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Dr Jane Burns, NHS Lanarkshire acute divisional medical director, said: “We cannot comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality.
“NHS Lanarkshire works within the agreed national clinical pathways. We will give consideration to supporting a referral request for treatment which is not yet authorised in Scotland, but only where there is a clinical recommendation that this is what is required for that individual patient. The request has to be made by the consultant and supported by the multi-disciplinary team.”
A spokeswoman for the Golden Jubilee said it was considering offering minimally invasive mitral valve surgery in future, alongside sternotomy, but added: "In experienced centres, evidence shows that both procedures are safe and effective in treating mitral valve disease."
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