57-year-old Jim Gaynor's experience with socialized medicine:
Jim, a learning disabilities nurse, first felt a lump in his throat around Christmas last year and went to see his GP.
After initially being told it was probably just a swollen gland, he was eventually referred for further investigations, first at Dunston Hill Hospital in Gateshead, then the Freeman in Newcastle and eventually Sunderland Royal Hospital.
In February, he was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a neck dissection to remove the lump, which was seen as a success, and offered either chemotherapy and radiotherapy or transoral laser surgery to try and remove any remaining cancer.
Ami said: “He decided to go with the transoral because the people he’d spoken to having radio and chemo were quite poorly, and he went in for it on April 4, four days after his 57th birthday.
He's dead, Jim. And the issue that killed him had been known for 6 years.
