'Just another postcode lottery': £50m fund for cancer patients is already imposing blacklists
By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 8:23 AM on 22nd November 2010
The £50million fund set up to end the ‘postcode lottery’ of cancer drugs is already refusing to prescribe life-prolonging treatments in some areas.
At least two of England’s ten regional health authorities are effectively blacklisting medicines widely recommended by consultants – despite Coalition promises that no patient should go without.
In addition, hundreds of potential beneficiaries have been told not to bother even applying to the Interim Cancer Drugs Fund unless they have ‘exceptional’ cases.
One frustrated doctor told the Daily Mail last night that a fresh postcode lottery was already up and running amid fears that thousands of desperately ill cancer sufferers will continue to miss out.
Life-saver: The Interim Cancer Drugs Fund was launched last month as a stop-gap measure until April. But some authorities have a 'red' list which excludes life-saving drug Avastin for bowel cancer
Incredibly, there is now even a suggestion that, as so few patients are being approved – mainly through a lack of applications – the fund could be left with a surplus.
The Interim Cancer Drugs Fund was launched last month as a stop-gap measure until April when £200million will be allocated to the full Cancer Drugs Fund.
The idea was to help those seeking treatments rejected for general NHS use by NICE, the health spending watchdog, as well as those whose local primary care trusts denied them treatments available in other areas.
Specialists apply directly for funding for individual patients, and some of England’s ten Strategic Health Authorities do automatically approve funding for bowel cancer sufferers to have Avastin, a medicine which typically gives them an extra six weeks of life.
But in at least two regions – the North West and London – bowel cancer patients have been told not to bother applying for it.
North West SHA now says Avastin will go to bowel cancer patients only if a specialist can ‘demonstrate how they expect the cancer drug to provide greater clinical benefit to you than could be expected to others with your condition’.
London SHA has a ‘red’ list which excludes Avastin for bowel cancer.
A doctor working in the area covered by the North West SHA, who declined to be named, said: ‘It’s very frustrating and another postcode lottery for patients.’
In all, fewer than 200 patients are so far known to have been approved for treatment since the fund started on October 1, raising fears it could be underspent by March.
Millions could be sent back to the Department of Health’s coffers despite campaigners estimating at least 2,400 cancer patients should be helped by then, far beyond the current take-up rate.
Andrew Wilson, chief executive of the Rarer Cancers Foundation, said: ‘The principle set out by David Cameron was that clinicians should be able to prescribe the drugs they believe would benefit patients.
‘To put a blanket ban on certain drugs drives a coach and horses through this principle; it completely goes against the spirit of the fund.’
Kate Spall, who runs the Pamela Northcott Fund, a voluntary organisation which acts as advocate for scores of cancer patients, said: ‘It’s really shocking that in some areas patients are having to cope with a double ban.
‘It’s the worst kind of postcode lottery. This is not saving people’s lives, which is what the Coalition is trying to do.’
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: ‘We are not aware that SHAs have drawn up lists of “banned drugs”.
‘We are confident that the clinically led regional panels are making every effort to ensure that cancer patients have increased access to the effective drugs their doctors recommend for them.
'DRUGS SAVED MY LIFE'
Transformed: Cancer drug Avastin saved former nurse Jill de Cruz's life
Former nurse Jill de Cruz believes her life was saved by Avastin, one of the cancer drugs not approved in certain parts of England.
In February 2009 the 48-year-old was diagnosed with kidney cancer. She was told it had spread to her neck, liver and lungs and she had a matter of months to live.
Her four children, aged between 16 and 23, and her husband Mark, a prison officer, were devastated.
After extensive surgery, she had moved into a hospice when her doctor suggested she try chemotherapy and Avastin, which halts blood vessel growth and can shrink tumours.
She got the life-extending drug, which costs up to £20,000 per course, through private health insurance taken out months before her diagnosis. Today, she is full of vitality, walking her dogs and spending time with her two grandchildren.
Her condition is still considered terminal but it has stabilised and she could remain well for many years.
Mrs de Cruz, of Bracknell, Berkshire, said last night: ‘It’s very upsetting that the wool has been pulled over our eyes again with the interim drugs fund.
‘I was told I probably had only weeks left... but I truly believe I am here today because of Avastin. If people can get plastic surgery on the NHS, why shouldn’t they get this drug?’
