"‘Access to drugs in America will ONLY depend on
if you Moslem or in Congress, or sleep with one of us with privilege."
Posted on 01/13/2013 9:51:24 AM PST by Pinkbell
Hospitals are denying patients the latest life-extending cancer drugs, a report reveals.
Dozens of trusts are failing to hand out treatments for bowel, ovarian, lung and brain cancer that have been approved by the NHS watchdog NICE.
Some of these drugs have been shown to boost survival rates by a quarter while others have extended the lives of terminally-ill patients by over a year.
The report - commissioned by the Department of Health - also reveals that many hospitals are failing to prescribe the latest treatments for heart attacks, asthma, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and Crohn’s Disease.
In fact some of the drugs were approved for use by NICE more than seven years ago.
Ministers and charities say it is ‘completely unacceptable’ that patients are being denied drugs that could extend their lives or drastically improve their symptoms.
The report also reveals huge variation between hospitals with some routinely prescribing these new treatments while others have not offered them to anyone at all.
It is unclear why some hospitals are refusing to provide the new drugs but it may be that doctors prefer to use existing treatments they have trusted over the years.
Health minister, Lord Howe, said: ‘Patients have a right to medicines and treatments that have been approved by NICE and are clinically appropriate for them, and it is completely unacceptable if this is not happening.
The report shows how frequently treatments approved by NICE are being prescribed by hospitals and GPs
‘We are determined to drive out unjustified variation.’
And Andrew Wilson, Chief Executive of the Rarer Cancers Foundation said: ‘NICE was meant to end the postcode lottery but these figures show that it is alive and well.
‘Access to drugs should not depend on where you live or in which hospital you are treated.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I’m willing to bet that life-shortening drugs are cheap and easily available.
Little green crackers.
"‘Access to drugs in America will ONLY depend on
if you Moslem or in Congress, or sleep with one of us with privilege."
Someone might want to see if there is a correlation between the health care postcode lottery and voting patterns...
Ungland...
Soon to be the policy here in the USA.
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