Vital drug treatment refused for cancer victim, 78

Fred Binch, 78, of Scarborough, has been battling kidney cancer since 2006.

Two years ago he was told the disease was inoperable after tumours spread to his right lung.

He was given a drug which initially worked against the cancer but it ceased to be effective last year.

His doctors applied to North Yorkshire's primary care trust (PCT) for funding to pay for an expensive new drug called everolimus.

He was initially told officials had met to discuss his case in February but it later emerged it had not been considered until the end of March.

He was told his request had been "deferred" but two hours later received an e-mail to say that had been a typographical error and his request for the drug had instead been declined.

Managers told him the drug had not been approved for the NHS by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) –although some patients in other parts of the country have been prescribed it.

Yesterday Mr Binch said he was "going downhill fast".

He was receiving no treatment for the disease and doctors had warned him latest scans showed tumours were growing at an "alarming rate". In the last few weeks he had become increasingly breathless and was losing his voice.

Mr Binch said he relied on the NHS and could not afford to pay privately for the drug, which costs 99 per day.

The battle with the PCT was an additional burden and without the support of the charity the James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer and his family, he would have given up.

He had been fit all his life but now was being denied treatment by the NHS when he most needed it.

Mr Binch, a retired factory foreman, said: "The aggravating thing is that I've got a brilliant medical team in Scarborough and at Castle Hill Hospital in Hull and then you come up against a buffer with the PCT.

"When you're sitting here virtually dying for want of some treatment, then you have people like this dealing with it.

"Without the support of the charity, I would have packed it in. It's a hopeless task on your own."

Mr Binch, who has been married to wife Dorothy for 58 years, said the refusal was further frustrating as the first month's treatment with the drug would be free. The NHS would pay for the following two months before a review was carried out.

"If it's not working, then that's it. If it is, then we go on from there, " he said.

"I can't afford it myself – I don't want to sell my house and leave my family destitute. I paid all my taxes my whole life and for what?"

Julia Black, from the James Whale charity, accused health chiefs of "sheer incompetence" in dealing with the request.

She said it was Mr Binch's final treatment option yet it had taken the PCT at least eight weeks to make a decision even though he was receiving no treatment for his condition.

She said the drug had been approved by the NHS in other parts of the country. It was comparable in cost to his previous treatment and was readily available abroad.

"You have to question what on earth is going on at the PCT, " she said. "There's such confusion and I think it's been forgotten that Fred is battling cancer. He's facing this nightmare on a daily basis."

David Geddes, medical director at the PCT, said its individual case panel made decisions about whether to fund treatments for conditions which fall outside guidance issued by Nice.

He added: "In accordance with Nice guidelines and following additional consultation with local cancer networks, the panel concluded there was no case for clinical exceptionality."