Welsh Conservatives today pledged to give frontline NHS staff more control over clinical decisions to prescribe life-extending cancer medicines.
Visiting a cancer charity in Swansea, Welsh Conservatives pledged to establish a £10 million Cancer Drugs Fund to make available medicines, which have not been approved by NICE, usually on cost grounds.
Welsh Conservatives are also committed to establishing a Cancer Co-ordinator to implement a national cancer action plan aimed at raising standards of care across Wales.
Nick Bourne, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the National Assembly, today visited Cancer Information and Support Services in the Uplands, Swansea with South Wales West lead candidate Suzy Davies and Swansea West candidate Steve Jenkins.
Nick Bourne said, “Welsh Conservatives believe that frontline NHS staff should be trusted to make clinical decisions because they know better than politicians which medicines their patients need.
“Too often clinicians are powerless to prescribe the cancer medicines their patient needs because it has not been approved by NICE due to costs.
“By establishing a £10million Cancer Drugs Fund we can improve access to cancer medicines and ensure that patients are receiving medicines based on clinical need.
“By trusting professionals to make decisions, we are empowering NHS staff and limiting the seemingly endless interference from Labour Ministers.”
Suzy Davies said, “Despite the hard work and dedication of NHS staff, there remain too many inequalities in access to many life-extending cancer medicines both within Wales and between Wales and England.
“The UK Coalition recently fulfilled a Conservative commitment in England to set up a Cancer Drugs Fund, which will make new medicines available to patients there.
“Unless a similar fund is established in Wales by the Assembly Government, Welsh patients could be refused treatments readily available across the border.
“Welsh Conservatives have made a clear commitment to tackling postcode lotteries in access to cancer drugs to ensure that Welsh patients can get the medicines they need.”
Steve Jenkins said, “The lives of too many people in Wales are being blighted or cut short by cancer.
“By protecting the NHS budget, by investing in new cancer medicines and taking measures to end postcode lotteries, we can improve the prospects for cancer patients and their families.”
