Byline: KATE FORRESTER
A HEALTH chief has spoken out about the difficulties of obtaining some drugs in Wales, after it emerged a cancer patient had to rent a flat 50 miles from her home to access treatment.
But Dr Matthew Makin, chief of staff for the Cancer Clinical Programme Group at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said he is against setting up a fund in Wales dedicated to cancer drugs.
DAILY POST June 2, 2012 DENBIGHSHIRE & EAST By KATE FORRESTER Drastic move: Yvonne Briscoe, 57 CANCER PATIENT'S BATTLE FOR TUMOUR DRUG A CANCER patient has been forced to rent a flat in England to access treatment which could save her life. Earlier this year, health chiefs in North Wales told Yvonne Briscoe she would not be allowed to take Cetuximab, a drug which can shrink tumours, because she was not an 'exceptional case'.
The Wrexham Maelor hospital-based consultant told the Daily Post there is not enough cash available to the NHS to fund every life-prolonging treatment on the market. y The 57-year-old had asked for the opportunity to try the treatment after chemotherapy stopped having an effect on her bowel cancer. After being told the drug was not approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and not routinely available in Wales, Yvonne was forced to take drastic action.
She has now rented a flat in Stockport - 53 miles from her home in Brynford - and has to spend at least one day there every week in order to register for treatment in England, where Cetuximab is more easily accessible through the Cancer Drugs Fund.
'I was left with no choice really. I need to be given the chance to try this drug and this was the only way I could apply for funding for it in England,' she said. 'I am already being treated at Christie's in Manchester and my friend said she had a flat for rent in Stockport. 'I decided to take it, so I was able to register with a Stockport doctor and receive treatment in England, where getting funding for Cetuximab is usually straightforward. 'Now I have to spend some time there every week and have been told by one of my consultants that I'm one of several patients he knows of who have had to do this. 'It isn't an ideal situation at all and Welsh patients should not have to go to these lengths - it's totally ridiculous. Battling cancer is one of the most stressful situations you could ever go through and having to do this just adds to that.' II've had to rent flat 5500 miles away in England in fight to save my life Yvonne considered launching a court battle to win the right to use the drug in Wales, a path followed by her friend and fellow bowel cancer sufferer Jane Humphreys. SHE NEEDS ADDRESS ACROSS BORDER TO RECEIVE TREATMENT will be a bit more straightforward for me now.
'I have been advised to finish the treatment I am currently receiving at Glan Clwyd hospital, which takes another two weeks, and then I can apply for funding for Cetuximab.' Bosses at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board say Cetuximab is still not recommended by NICE and is Jane, who lives in Mold and is an oncology nurse herself, was finally given the go-ahead to use Cetuximab in 2008 and has since discovered it has shrunk her tumours dramatically. The mum-of-two was first diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and had undergone countless operations and several rounds of chemotherapy. She was also initially refused funding for the treatment, which is widely used in Europe, because it was not approved by NICE. Yvonne added: 'I just couldn't face it and didn't have the time to fight a court battle like Jane did. In any case, it shouldn't be necessary. I'm hoping that things not routinely available in Wales as a result. Dr Matthew Makin, chief of staff of the Cancer Clinical Programme Group, said: 'If a drug is approved by NICE and the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group, then such drugs are used as standard treatment. We can confirm that in this case a request was considered and no clinical exceptionality was determined and thus in accordance with policy, the request was refused. 'Whilst we have every sympathy with Ms Briscoe, we have followed the process as it stands in Wales at this time.'
kate.forrester@dailypost.co.uk Breakthrough: How we told Jane Humphreys' story It follows the story reported by the Daily Post last week of Yvonne Briscoe, a bowel cancer sufferer from Brynford, who has been forced to rent a flat in Stockport in order to gain access to a How we reported Yvonne's case in Friday's paper drug which is more easily available in England, through the dedicated Cancer Drugs Fund.
The 57-year-old wanted to be given the chance to be treated with Cetuximab, a drug which can shrink tumours, but was told by North Wales doctors that she was not an 'exceptional case'.
Dr Makin says the drug is not approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) or the All Wales Medicine Strategy Group because it is not cost-effective.
He added: 'Cetuximab has not been approved for funding on the basis of its level of efficiency relative to its cost.
'For example, it can potentially cost tens of thousands of pounds to delay the progression of cancer only by a matter of weeks.
'What''s clear here is that in Wales it is perfectly possible for some patients to be eligible and some patients not to be eligible, depending upon their stage and genetic variant of the disease.'
Dr Makin said he and other clinicians across Wales were aware of increasing pressure from patients and other sources to set up a Welsh Cancer Drugs Fund, which would seek to fund treatments not approved by NICE.
He added: 'Prioritising NHS resources towards such a fund would be short-sighted, unjust and reckless.
POST Page 'It would in effect divert resources away from other technologies and modes of cancer care. 'These other technologies are necessary if we are to provide a world-class cancer service.
'Patients should have access to modern diagnostic procedures, the latest surgical interventions and other new techniques such as targeted radiotherapy. 'Many of these approaches have been considered clinically and cost effective by NICE, but their wider use could be threatened if funding were directed towards a separate drugs fund.'
DAILY SAYS 8 The consultant said the English Cancer Drugs Fund is set to be scrapped in 2014 in any event and that doctors across Wales have been working with the pharmaceutical industry to secure an agreement which could see more drugs made available in Wales in the future, at a lower cost.
kateforrester@dailypost.co.uk NHS DAILY POST SAYS Page 8 technologies
