The government has announced a £50m fund which should give very sick cancer patients access to drugs sooner.
It will mean that from October, rather than next year, doctors in England can offer drugs which have not been approved by the rationing body NICE.
The announcement was made at the launch of a study showing that the UK lags in providing the newest cancer drugs.
The fund will be financed by ditching the former government’s plan for free personal care for the old.
It means that cancer patients will be able to access new drugs earlier to help extend life by weeks or months or improve quality of life in the final stages of the disease.
The government’s cancer tsar Professor Sir Mike Richards, who led the research into the UK’s ranking on drug provision, stressed however it would not improve overall survival rates.
Read more at BBC Health.
Tags: Cancer
