Medicines access 'speeds up' with £80m New Treatment Fund
- Published
"It was like a meteor shower going off in my head"
An £80m treatment fund has "significantly reduced" the time taken for newly recommended therapies to become available to patients in Wales.
The wait has been cut from 90 days to 13, the Welsh Government said.
The New Treatment Fund gives health boards money over five years to speed up access to life-improving and life-prolonging medicines.
First launched in 2017, the fund now covers 226 medicines for more than 100 conditions.
One example of a drug being offered - after approval by NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group - is Palbociclib.
It is a targeted therapy which is used to block the growth and spread of cancer.
Kirsty Henderson from Caerphilly was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 after she found a lump.
Within a week of finding it, she had "every symptom known to man".
"It had collapsed on one side, it had turned a really strange colour, it had inverted the nipple," Ms Henderson explained.
Following a mastectomy and lymph removal, she was given the all clear.
Ms Henderson received the news that she was five years free of the cancer when she was on holiday in Ibiza, but when she got home she had a "horrendous" headache which got progressively worse.
Ms Henderson, pictured with granddaughter Billie, had "every symptom known to man" within a week of finding a lump
She was later diagnosed with secondary breast cancer behind her eye, which her oncologists said they had not seen before, and is inoperable.
The tumour, which was "the size of a plum" gave her "the most intense headaches you can imagine - it was like a meteor shower going off in my head and it just never went away".
Ms Henderson, 51, underwent radiation and was put on Palbociclib. She also takes Letrozole, another drug which aims to stop the spread of cancer.
She said the tumour was "almost a shell of itself".
"They almost think it's gone into an inactive stage although it hasn't gone," Ms Henderson, an accountant, said.
She realised her condition was "manageable".
"I work full time, I holiday regularly, I'm going to the Kaiser Chiefs on Friday, I've got a season ticket for Cardiff City, we're going on holiday, my husband and I, to Tenerife.
"So I think the best medicine, apart from the medicine, is to be as positive as you possibly can."
The Cardiff City fan, with granddaughter Gracie, has raised almost £30,000 for Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, where she is treated
Ms Henderson has also raised almost £30,000 for Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, where she is treated.
Speaking about the treatment fund, she said: "I think it's important that they're made available soon because with the treatment fund they're able to give it to people a lot earlier than they could."
Andrew Evans, chief pharmaceutical officer for Wales, said the medicines "affect the quality of life of people with a range of medical conditions".
Andrew Evans, chief pharmaceutical officer for Wales, said getting a drug available to patients was "quite a long process"
Mr Evans explained that getting a drug available to patients is "quite a long process" that requires a series of clinical trials, then a licensing process before being appraised by NICE and the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething said the fund was "delivering precisely what we intended it to".
"It is enabling us to transform the way healthcare is delivered," he said.
"For some patients these medicines are life saving, for others they are bringing significant improvements to their lives."
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