05.04.13
‘One national list’ for the Cancer Drugs Fund – NHS England
A new single drugs fund list has been established to eliminate regional variation and bring a fairer system to cancer patients, NHS England (formerly the NHS Commissioning Board) has announced.
The national list includes 28 approved fast-track drugs, to treat approximately 70 different cancer conditions. The Cancer Drugs Fund provides an additional £200m a year to enable access drugs not routinely funded by the local NHS, and will continue to run until the end of March 2014.
Doctors will still be able to apply for any cancer drug through the fund on behalf of their patients. Any patient already receiving funding for a drug, or who has received confirmation that they will get funding will continue to receive this despite any changes to the national list.
Sean Duffy, National Clinical Director for Cancer at NHS England said: “This is a national levelling up of the number of approved treatments that are available under the Cancer Drugs Fund. This means more people will benefit. It is really important that we stretch every penny of the Cancer Drugs Fund so we get maximum benefit to the most people we possibly can.
“This is a step forward for the Cancer Drugs Fund. In recent weeks cancer specialists from across the country have been working together to agree one national list of approved fast-track drugs for the Cancer Drugs Fund, which will then allow more uniform access to treatment and reduce variation of prescribing across the country. Having one consistent method for consideration of overall clinical benefit and funding means that all applications will be assessed by the same criteria. Regional variation of the past is clearly not acceptable for patients.
“Clinicians can still apply for drugs to join the national list of approved fast-track cancer drugs. Clinicians can also continue to make individual funding requests for cancer drugs on behalf of their patients. Doctors will still be able to apply for any cancer drug through the Cancer Drugs Fund on behalf of their patients.”
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