Delivering on NHS
modernisation: government launches £200 million a year Cancer Drugs
Fund, as raft of improvements is rolled out in the new financial year
A £200 million a
year Cancer Drugs Fund that will help cancer patients get greater
access to cancer drugs their doctors recommend for them, was
launched by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley today.
The commencement of the fund follows the successful £50m interim
fund that has helped over 2,000 cancer patients from across
England gain access to life-extending drugs since October last
year.
The Cancer Drugs Fund is just one of a number of commitments made
reality today. From 1 April:
hospitals will be fined £250 per day for every breach of mixed
sex accommodation;the NHS will be more involved in post-discharge
support, with hospitals responsible for any readmissions within 30
days of discharge;the extended list of 25 ‘Never Events’ become
enshrined in the NHS Contract, helping to ensure greater patient
safety; andnew A&E and ambulance indicators replace
process-driven targets.
The Cancer Drugs Fund will see a further £600 million invested
over three years by the Coalition Government which is committed to
making the NHS more responsive to patients and to increasing
access to innovative new drugs that extend life or improve quality
of life.
Clinically-led panels have been established across England that
put doctors in charge of deciding how this funding is spent for
their patients locally, together with advice from patients’ cancer
specialists.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:
“We have delivered on the promise in our Coalition Agreement to
create a Cancer Drugs Fund, first by implementing the £50 million
interim fund last October, and now with a £200 million a year main
fund. This demonstrates how our plans to modernise the NHS are
directly benefitting patients.
“The interim fund has already helped over 2,000 cancer patients
across England. We are confident that the £600 million Cancer
Drugs Fund will, over the next three years, continue to meet this
previously unmet need and improve the lives of many thousands more
cancer sufferers, giving them precious extra time with their loved ones.
“Our commitment to the values of the NHS is providing high
quality care for everyone and ensuring nobody is excluded from
getting the treatments and drugs that their doctors think will
help them.”
Trevor Lines, a grandfather from Colchester in
Essex, who is being treated with the drug Everolimus that is
funded through the Interim Cancer Drugs Fund, said:
“If I wasn’t on this drug I’d probably be dead. It has definitely
extended my life. Most people with this type of cancer die within
five years, but I’m still here. There are side effects, but when
you breathe in the air and look out at the sunshine you realise
it’s all worthwhile.
“I’m now continuing to live rather than expecting to die in the
next six months. I’m still leading a fairly normal life. It’s
enabled me to do an awful lot. I know I’m going to die but taking
this drug has given me time to plan for the future and arrange
everything for my funeral and for my family after I’m gone. I
think I’m very lucky.”
Professor Adrian Newland CBE, Director of the
North East London Cancer Network, said:
“The work that we put into developing the Interim Cancer Drugs
Fund over the last 6 months has been crucial in helping us give
patients access to drugs that they otherwise wouldn't
have had. Through the scheme, many patients have now received
treatment that we know is likely to be clinically effective.
“The Interim Cancer Drugs Fund has been an excellent example of
how we can give patients access to the newer, innovative
treatments that have real potential.”
Professor Peter Clark, Chair of North West Cancer
Drug Fund Panel, said:
“In the North West, we have seen increased access to drugs for
patients with rarer cancers through the Cancer Drug Fund, and a
reduction in the postcode prescribing of these drugs. We are now
looking forward to auditing the outcomes of these treatments once
clinical data is sufficiently mature.”
The Cancer Drugs Fund is in addition to what Primary Care Trusts
already spend, and clinicians can still apply locally to Primary
Care Trusts for exceptional funding of drugs not normally available.
All drugs recommended as clinically and cost effective by NICE
will continue to be funded by the NHS. NICE will continue to
appraise most significant new drugs, and will have an important
part to play in our longer-term plans to introduce value-based
pricing for new medicines.
Notes to Editors
The £50m interim cancer drugs funding started on 1 October 2010
and was announced on 27 July 2010:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/MediaCentre/Pressreleases/DH_117970
Professor Sir Mike Richards’ report International Variations of
Drug Usage can be found at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_117962
The Health and Social Care Bill 2011 was published on Wednesday
19 January 2011 This takes forward the primary legislation
required to implement the Government's vision for the
NHS, set out in the White Paper Liberating the NHS (July 2010) and
Liberating the NHS: Legislative framework and next steps (December
2010). The Bill and related documents can be found on the DH
website at: www.dh.gov.uk/healthandsocialcarebill
The Cancer Drugs Fund operates for three years from 1 April 2011
and was developed using the views of healthcare professionals,
patients, carers and the public who took part in a consultation
that started on 27 October 2010 and ended on 19 January 2011
For more information, please contact the Department of Health
press office on 020 7210 5221.
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk