MP's fury at cancer drugs border ruling
MID Wales MP Glyn Davies has spoken of his "frustration" after figures showed patients in Wales are four times less likely to receive new cancer drugs on the NHS than those in England.
Mr Davies, Montgomeryshire MP, said most cancer patients in his constituency are treated in England, but oncologists are unable to prescribe certain drugs because they are from across the border.
Mr Davies said "nothing makes him angrier" than hearing of cases where patients from Montgomeryshire are denied the same treatment to those living just miles away.
He said: "Montgomeryshire is on the front line of the debate about access to cancer drugs. Most of our cancer patients are in the care of England-based oncologists, who are deeply frustrated when they cannot prescribe a drug that they could if the patient was from England.
"I can think of nothing that makes me angrier, or the people of Montgomeryshire more disillusioned with the Welsh Assembly and devolution, than this cross-border differential cancer treatment."
Earlier this week, the Rare Cancers Foundation (RCF) said patients in Wales are four times less likely to receive new treatment than those in England.
Andrew Wilson, chief executive of the RCF, said: "The needs of cancer patients are no less pressing on one side of a border than they are on another, nor are treatments any less effective. Urgent action is needed to end this inequality."
A Welsh Assembly spokesman said: "All medicines that are not approved by NICE or the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group can be prescribed in Wales where clinical exceptionality can be demonstrated.
"A cancer drugs fund would unfairly disadvantage many patients with serious conditions other than cancer."
