Janet Finch-Saunders

Every day in Wales, 49 people are delivered the life-changing news that they have cancer. Each day, 24 people die from this disease. The current process that cancer sufferers in Wales must complete in order to obtain the drugs that they need is in dire need of reform. News headlines of late have highlighted that there are currently more than 70 types of advanced cancer drugs and treatments offered to patients in England that are not routinely available in Wales. The comparable difference in cancer medication funding is astonishing, given that this medicine and treatment ensures the best possible care, with some specialist drugs having the power to extend life around 11 months and, as some cases have demonstrated, up to 10 years. Examples of this include Avastin. At a cost of around £25,000, the drug is readily available via the cancer drugs fund in England. However, although it has the potential to extend the lives of patients, it is not as easily accessible in Wales. Velcade, a proven, supported medication for multi-myeloma, shows cases slowing down, or even stopping of the condition. This has led to some cancer sufferers having to make an alarming choice: to spend their savings, if they have any, or to move across the border, where the cancer drugs fund can be accessed, and which has already helped as many as 55,000 cancer sufferers. Take, for example, Rosemary Greenslade from Clydach, who was initially refused Avastin. It was only after she had spent £20,000 that her second application for the drug was successful. Then there are cases such as Annie Mulholland's. She also failed to gain the potentially life-saving drug in Wales, and so was forced to register as a resident of south London. This is the tip of the iceberg. I hear on a regular basis of many people having to move out of Wales. If neither of these options is available, patients must accept their fate in the agonising knowledge that their treatment is not as much of a priority to the Welsh Government as the treatment of English patients is to Ministers at Westminster. That is shocking.
 
During the inquiry into the Welsh Government’s cancer delivery plan, I was quite distressed to hear patients describing the individual patient funding request referral process as inconsistent, not fit for purpose, lengthy and confusing. We are living in the twenty-first century. Now, I will give credit to the Minister; I have read your statement today, the IPFR process and the next steps, and the recommendations there, and there is a will here to see this implemented. Please do so.
At a time when you are battling against all the odds, the issue of access to treatment or potentially life-prolonging drugs should not even register in a person's mind. The IPFR’s requirement that doctors must demonstrate a patient’s exceptional clinical circumstances is itself contradictory in a culture of equality. Surely, anyone diagnosed with a complex, more specialist condition in itself makes for an exceptional circumstance. When a consultant identifies the necessary treatment requested, they should not be overruled by a panel so far removed from the patient and their needs. Alarmingly, patients in Wales are now more likely to have their IPFR for cancer treatment rejected than approved, and the number of rejections more than trebled between 2010 and 2013. This point has been raised by the Rarer Cancers Foundation, making it clear that its opinion is that the current system in Wales is unsuitable for cancer treatment requests. How can one life be worth more than another? How can the life of someone be valued by which side of the border they live? That is what the Welsh Government is implying by simply refusing to establish a cancer treatment plan or to even look into the establishment of a cancer treatment fund—there is a definite, ‘No, we’re not going to do it’.
 
While we know that there is a cost and pressure surrounding the establishment of this, we know of waste in the system—free prescriptions. Last year, the Welsh NHS spent £4.6 million on paracetamol alone, often to those who have the means to find the 29p to buy it.
 

15:59
Jenny Rathbone

I just wonder why you are advocating the cancer drugs fund, which is being abolished in England next year. I am confused as to why you would want to introduce something that has been found wanting in England.

15:59
Janet Finch-Saunders

With all due respect to the Member, I have actually said the cancer drugs and treatment fund.
 

Speak to the pharmacists about the dangers of stockpiling drugs that patients never use. A case in my own constituency involved an old-age pensioner actually being targeted for the constant supply of medication that he was able to obtain—and he was offered money for it. By 2030, Macmillan estimates there will be over 4 million people living with cancer in the United Kingdom as a whole, compared to the 2 million sufferers in 2010. The Welsh Government must take every step possible to end the current postcode lottery system. I thank Ann Wilkinson and Julie McGowan for their determination in obtaining the required treatment and for standing up for those less fortunate. These people do not have the wherewithal of a Minister’s portfolio, but they have guts and determination. The people of Wales need a common sense approach. Forget the freebies, forget the gimmicks, and please prioritise a cancer treatments fund for Wales.