27 October 2010

Cancer fund confirmed

A Cancer Drugs Fund of £200 million a year to help cancer patients get greater access to cancer drugs that their doctors recommend has been confirmed today by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

The money will be available annually from April 2011 to the end of 2013 and will help patients get increased access to cancer drugs.

In addition to this commitment, £50 million has already been made available to cover the period between 1st October 2010 and the end of March 2011. Clinically led panels have been set up in each region to decide how funding should be spent on local patients.

All drugs recommended as clinically and cost effective by NICE will still be funded by the NHS and NICE will continue to appraise most significant new medicines.  However, the additional £50m of interim cancer drugs funding and the £200m a year funding will help cancer patients get access to drugs that their clinicians think they need.

The new Cancer Drugs Fund will be separate from what Primary Care Trusts already spend, and clinicians can still apply locally to Primary Care Trusts for exceptional funding of drugs not normally available.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said, “I pledged to create a cancer drugs fund so that
cancer sufferers and their families could benefit from drugs that their doctors believe could improve their quality of life. This £200 million a year funding over three years for cancer drugs is a crucial step forward in addressing the disparity in patients' access to cancer drugs in England compared to other countries.

“My aim is to truly empower patients. I want to give them more control over their healthcare and ensure no decisions are made ‘about them, without them’. Our longer-term plans will change the way we pay for drugs so that patients get better access to drugs and the NHS and the taxpayer get better value for money.

“This fund is just one example of how we are putting the clinical experts in charge of making decisions. They are the ones who know what their patients need and it makes sense that we give them control of budgets for local people.”

A consultation has been launched to seek the views of healthcare professionals, patients, carers and the public on these arrangements and other proposals for the Fund’s operation. The consultation will run until 19 January 2011 and can be found at www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_120834.