Cancer charity demands action

Updated 22.56 Mon Jun 02 2008

Keywords: cancer

A leading cancer charity has called for government action after NHS patients complained that they were being prevented from paying for extra private treatment.

Cancer sufferers say they are being banned from receiving NHS treatment if they opt to pay for drugs not available via the health service - because the Government is against a two-tier system beneficial to the well-off.

"We find it equally unpalatable that cancer patients who can afford to pay for life-extending treatment should be denied from doing so" - Richard Davidson from Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK said Health Secretary Alan Johnson needed to address the problem.

Richard Davidson, director of policy and public affairs at Cancer Research UK, said the issue was complex.

"We don't support moves that perpetuate inequalities," he said. "But we find it equally unpalatable that cancer patients who can afford to pay for life-extending treatment should be denied from doing so.

"This is a complex issue which the Government needs to resolve."

At least one patient, 64-year-old Linda O'Boyle, of Billericay, Essex, is known to have died after being denied free treatment because she opted for a drug only available privately.

A number of others are believed to be planning legal action in the hope of forcing the NHS to allow sufferers to pay for top-up care.