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Cancer victim’s fury over wait
Tuesday 9th October 2007, 11:29AM BST.
A cancer patient today attacked health chiefs in South Staffordshire who have spent three weeks trying to decide whether to pay £8,000 for drugs that could triple his life expectancy.
Stafford College plumbing lecturer Brian Athersmith has been warned he may not survive more than five months without the treatment for his lung cancer.
The 56-year-old father-of-two is a non-smoker feared to have contracted lung cancer while working with asbestos as a plumber more than 30 years ago.
He was diagnosed with the terminal disease last month and is now under the care of experts at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
Read the full story in today’s Express & Star.
A cancer patient today attacked health chiefs in South Staffordshire who have spent three weeks trying to decide whether to pay £8,000 for drugs that could triple his life expectancy.
Stafford College plumbing lecturer Brian Athersmith has been warned he may not survive more than five months without the treatment for his lung cancer.
The 56-year-old father-of-two is a non-smoker feared to have contracted lung cancer while working with asbestos as a plumber more than 30 years ago.
He was diagnosed with the terminal disease last month and is now under the care of experts at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
But South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) has not yet agreed to pay up to £20,000 for treatment which could prolong his life.
He said: “It is disgustingly cruel. Every day that ticks by my cancer gets worse. It is terminal but they have told me the drug Alimpta could increase my life expectancy to as much as 18 months. It could also greatly improve my quality of life.”
Brian, of Cemetery Road in Chadsmoor, Cannock, said his first six treatments would cost between £8,000 and £11,000 and around £20,000 for the course.
His wife Pauline, aged 55, added: “Time is very precious to us. It may be just a few weeks to them but that could make all the difference in the world to my husband.”
Brian told how the treatment was due to start on September 17 but was called of when it emerged doctors did not have permission to withdraw the drug from the pharmacy.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) was prepared to recommend the use of Alimpta in the treatment of some cancer patients in July, but a decision has now been delayed until November.
In the meantime it is up to individual primary care trusts to make their own judgements.
The PCT said today the issue was being looked at as a matter of urgency and a decision would be made within 48 hours.
By John Scott
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Unbelievable, are these health chiefs playing god? what gives them the right to say who can have these life expectancy drugs and who can’t. When is the health service going to put these types of decisions back in the hands of the consultants instead of the managers (spreadsheet experts!!!!!).
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Brian is one of the most nicest people who I have ever worked with he has a wonderful sense of humour. Surely something can be done to fund his treatment, what are we paying our national insurance for it’s outrageous he should be given a chance.
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When will this country get back on its feet and remove admin managers from trying to do the jobs of consultants. Brian has contributed into the health services for the past 40 years working as a plumber. It seems that when these thing come to light the answer comes from ‘The Primary Care Trust’ and no name attached. when the boot is on the other foot, like a new ward opening we see the face of one of these managers with a name splattered every were.
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Primary Care Trust?? What level of ‘Care’ is this? Surely the PCT owe all patients within their jurisdiction a duty of care to supply the relevant drugs and in an expeditious manner? The so-called post-code lottery of funding and provision of services is a joke and defies the raison d’etre of the NHS. What a farce.
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i am totally appalled at the suffering cancer patients have to go through, as if there illness is not enough to worry about and coping with the stress and pain of this horrible illness, they have to worry about whether or not people in big offices will let them live or die because of a few thousand pounds, who are they , to put a value on a person’s life.
give this man the drugs he needs, he has worked all his life, let him live it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I have worked with Brian for a number of years and he should be given the chance to have the treatment, if anyone deserves it, it is him. He is such a nice, kind, thoughtful person, always laughing and smiling and thinks the world of his family. Please sign the papers and give him the treatment
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Once again it appears desk-bound “experts” prenounce these death sentences. Is there anyway of prosecuting these shadowy figures for at least manslaughter?
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Firstly, decisions like this are made by DOCTORS within the PCT, not ‘pen-pushers’ or ‘spreadsheet experts’ – but medically qualified doctors (many of whom also work as GPs in the local community)
Primary Care Trusts fund treatment for hundreds of thousands of people, but there will inevitably be cases where funding becomes an issue. In this case, NICE have yet to give a final decision on the drug – if it was that clear, they would have decided already!
When an individuals case such as Brian’s come to light, no-one working in the Primary Care Trust is hard hearted and inconsiderate. They are extremely aware of the issues, but they are charged with providing care for the half a million people in South Staffordshire and balancing this against individual needs.
One last point, please can someone explain why devolving decision making to consultants will remove the postcode lottery!! The only way to avoid the postcode lottery is to nationally agree what treatment will be provided – but then people will complain of ‘Nanny State-ism’!
I hope Brian’s treatment is funded and wish him all the best in his fight against cancer.
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