NHS chiefs unveil new approach for cancer drug fund

HEALTH officials have pledged to take steps to end regional variations in access to the Cancer Drugs Fund, which was set up to fund treatment not routinely provided by the NHS.

Concerns have been raised about the £200m scheme which ends in March 2014, with charities warning that patients diagnosed after that date will be denied access to life-saving drugs.

The Department of Health yesterday confirmed the fund was set to end next year, but NHS England, which took responsibility for it on April 1, said cash would be spread more fairly until then.

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Sean Duffy, NHS England’s national clinical director, said a single national system would be used to assess applications for treatments, ending regional variations on which drugs were available.

Mr Duffy, also a cancer specialist in Leeds and chairman of the Yorkshire Cancer Network, added: “This is a step forward for the Cancer Drugs Fund.

“In recent weeks cancer specialists from across the country have been working together to agree one national list of approved fast-track drugs for the Cancer Drugs Fund, which will then allow more uniform access to treatment and reduce variation of prescribing across the country.

“Having one consistent method for consideration of overall clinical benefit and funding means that all applications will be assessed by the same criteria. Regional variation of the past is clearly not acceptable for patients.

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“Clinicians can still apply for drugs to join the national list of approved fast-track cancer drugs. Clinicians can also continue to make individual funding requests for cancer drugs on behalf of their patients.

Doctors will still be able to apply for any cancer drug through the Cancer Drugs Fund on behalf of their patients.”

Until now, the Cancer Drugs Fund has comprised of 10 regional areas each with different regionally approved lists of fast-track drugs and the cancers they can be used to treat.

There has also been a variety of processes for managing their availability to patients, leading to some drugs being available in some areas and not in others.

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NHS England said any patient who is already receiving funding for a cancer drug, or has received confirmation that they will receive funding as part an agreed treatment plan, will continue to receive treatment, despite any changes made to the national list.