Campaigners warn of return to postcode lottery for cancer drugs

Campaigners from Shropshire who fought to get a breast cancer drug funded by the NHS, say they're concerned there could be a return to a postcode lottery for new treatments.

Julia Black, from Whitchurch, and Sharon Moore, from Bridgnorth, staged a sit-in at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in 2006 to get Herceptin made available for all patients.

But the government plans to make changes to the overspent Cancer Drugs Fund from July 2016, with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) back in control of which drugs will be offered.

Mrs Black said: "We really are rewinding the clock to pre Cancer Drugs Fund and there's a real danger that cancer drugs are not going to be as available."

An NHS England spokesperson said: "Under these measures, patients will get faster access to the most promising new cancer treatments and tax payers will get better value."