Cancer treatment funding in Scotland creating 'postcode lottery'

Cancer patients in Scotland are being failed by the system set up to fund treatment for the disease, MSPs have been told.

The Scottish Conservatives have called on the government to follow the example of the Tory-led coalition in London and set up a dedicated cancer drugs fund.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium , which decides whether new treatments should be made available on the NHS in Scotland, has been criticised for creating a postcode lottery in cancer treatment.

Health secretary Alex Neil said the mechanisms for making new drugs available across Scotland were under review, but rejected the idea of ring-fencing finding for a single disease.

He said: ?Scotland's decision not to introduce a cancer drugs fund reflects our policy position that creating ring-fenced funding for a single disease area effectively diverts resources away from other conditions including severe and life-threatening conditions.?

Last month Mr Neil announced a new ?21m fund to improve access to treatment for people with rare medical conditions.

Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw said the UK Government?s cancer fund, which sets aside money to pay for treatments not available on the NHS, has helped 25,000 people.

He said "cancer is the one condition" in which "we are not serving people effectively", and a "fund of sorts" was needed.

Tory policy

Mr Carlaw added: "The suspicion sometimes on our side is that the reason the Scottish Government did not introduce a fund for cancer drugs was because the initiative initially came from a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition elsewhere.

?And that?s unfortunate if that is the impression that has been created, even if it is not the reality or the truth.?

Mr Neil said ?the fact it was a Tory government had nothing to do with our policy decision in Scotland?.

?I do remain committed to considering ways in which we can genuinely improve access to clinically and cost-effective medicines which may improve outcomes for patients in Scotland,? he added.

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said her party did not support the creation of a cancer drugs fund because it believed there were other serious conditions that also required improved access to medicines.

She said the cancer drugs fund in England had led to a ?a bit of a postcode lottery? in some places, ?which is not desirable?.

But she added the current individual patient treatment requests system ? which patients can use to try to get drugs not yet approved for general use ? was ?no longer acceptable?.

Postcode lottery

?The Cabinet Secretary must ensure at the very least there is not this appalling postcode lottery in Scotland,? she said.

?Access to medicines must improve, there must be consistency of application across all health boards in Scotland.?

MSPs who have survived cancer were amongst those who spoke on the issue of a cancer drugs fund during the debate.

Labour?s Jayne Baxter stressed the need for a ?robust, fair and transparent system? for determining access to medicines.

She said: ?Early detection, prompt and skilful treatment and aftercare from the Maggie's Centre gave me the ability to get on with my life, to be here today.

?I count myself very lucky but I now take nothing for granted.?

She added: ?Having had that experience, I cannot begin to imagine how it must feel to be told you have cancer but you won't get help because of anomalies in the system.?

Aileen McLeod, an SNP MSP and member of Holyrood?s Health Committee, said she was speaking in the debate ?both as a policymaker and a cancer victim and a cancer survivor?.

The South Scotland MSP said: ?I?m very acutely aware of how cancer sufferers and their families feel.

?But what I want to be doing is preventing people from getting to that stage where they need cancer drugs, and that's why the Scottish Government's ?30m Detect Cancer Early programme is so important.?

Source: http://news.stv.tv/politics/214794-scottish-parliament-told-cancer-patients-failed-by-drug-funding/

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