Jeremy Hunt has been urged to intervene on behalf of cancer patients “abandoned” by the NHS in a row over a potentially life-saving treatment it will not fund.
Cancer charity Anthony Nolan wants the Health Secretary to “take action” over a decision barring the health service from funding a second stem cell transplant for patients who have relapsed after an initial transfusion.
Last year NHS England said in a statement on its website that the second treatment was too expensive with a low clinical benefit, meaning it compared poorly with other drugs and treatments.
Polling commissioned by Anthony Nolan and released on Monday as part of its campaign for the second transplants shows two thirds of people believe the NHS should provide the treatment for relapsed patients.
Henny Braund, the charity’s chief executive, said: “It is unacceptable that, despite evidence showing a second transplant is a cure for one in three people, patients are being abandoned against the recommendation, and best efforts, of their doctors.
Full story in The Mirror, 20 February 2017