Kidney Cancer Support Group Oxford 27-Jan-09
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WHY ARE WE WAITING? KIDNEY CANCER PATIENTS LEFT TO DIE WAITING FOR DRUGS AVAILABLE IN WALES
PRESS RELEASE For immediate issue; 27th January 2009
We applaud the recent decision to stop the postcode lottery in Wales & fund vital life-extending kidney cancer drugs for Welsh patients. The Welsh Health Minister, Mrs Edwina Hart, has shown that Welsh politicians can be decisive & compassionate.
BUT…..terminally ill kidney cancer patients in England & Scotland are still waiting for N I C E (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) to announce their decision, which was originally expected in January. This has now been deferred to March, and the NHS are then not obliged to implement NICE guidance for a further three months. How much longer do we have to wait? How many more patients will die while N I C E tries to get its house in order? It could be another 5 months before cancer patients finally get the drugs they desperately need.
Some patients do not have 5 months to waste - we desperately need effective treatment NOW
PCTs could make these drugs immediately available whilst awaiting the outcome of the NICE decision. It is well known that we are facing a Post Code Lottery for these vital drugs. They can’t say they don’t have the money, as the NHS has a forecast surplus of £2.1 BILLION for the current year, and yet patients are dying for want of effective cancer drugs. Is this acceptable to the NHS bosses?
In August, N I C E issued their preliminary guidance and said Sutent, Avastin, Nexavar, & Torisel were not a cost effective use of NHS resources. But Sutent is the gold standard treatment for kidney cancer, proven to double life expectancy, and is prescribed throughout the world. Leading kidney cancer specialists state that Sutent is the most effective treatment available. There is no other effective alternative treatment for kidney cancer patients.
We need the drugs approved NOW - Kidney Cancer doesn’t stop spreading while N I C E shuffles its papers. Sutent has been licensed in the UK since 2006. Three years later we are still waiting, let down by a system that is seriously flawed and morally corrupt.
WE NOW CALL ON THE HEALTH SECRETARY, ALAN JOHNSON, TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND INSTRUCT EVERY PCT TO FUND THESE DRUGS IMMEDIATELY IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
PLEASE DON’T WAIT FOR MORE FRIGHTENED PATIENTS TO DIE….
WE ALL HAVE A RIGHT TO LIFE!
Clive Stone – Justice for Kidney Cancer Patients Phone: 07811 139478 email: clive@stone47.freeserve.co.uk Website; www.kidneycancersupportnetwork.co.uk
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