Cancer patients ‘being left to die’

Mar 18 2009 by Craig Robertson, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

NHS bosses have been accused of “leaving cancer patients to die” after figures revealed treatment was turned down in half of specialist cases.

According to a report by the Rarer Cancers Forum, Dumfries and Galloway NHS has the joint worst rate in Scotland for approving treatment for uncommon types of the disease.

Officials from the charity submitted a Freedom of Information request to all Scottish NHS boards and over a two-year period found that 50 per cent of the exceptional cases locally were approved for funded treatment.

While the figures involved were relatively small – six requests and three approved – the charity has highlighted the local health board for having a low approval rating which is matched by the Western Isles.

NHS boards in Fife, Grampian, Borders and Forth Valley had 100 per cent approval rates. The report also criticised NHS Dumfries and Galloway for having no written protocol on how exceptional cases are processed.

It states: “This is extremely concerning as the absence of a written protocol makes it difficult for an NHS board to reassure patients of its local population that its decisions are being made in a fair and transparent way.”

It added: “NHS Dumfries and Galloway states that, to be exceptional, a patient must have a characteristic that ‘would only be expected to be found in two or three per cent of the population with that condition’.”

Rarer Cancers Forum executive director Stella Pendleton said: “Patients with rarer cancers face enough hurdles in getting treatment and many of the treatments they need are not even licensed. They should get the treatment they need on the basis of clinical need alone. The Government must act to end this tragic lottery.”

No one from NHS Dumfries and Galloway was available to comment.