Briefing: drug treatment

We are living in an era of unprecedented cancer drug discovery. However, new drug treatments are likely to be more expensive and targeted at smaller groups of patients.

While the media often picks up stories about patients who have not been granted access to new drug treatments, it is worth remembering that the NHS successfully manages to provide treatment to millions of patients every year.

However, the UK still lags behind our European counterparts in drug prescribing. Some differences can be attributed to the system of funding healthcare in Europe, which has more of an emphasis on social insurance schemes.

Nevertheless, we believe that there are four specific things the Government can do to improve access to drugs for patients across the UK:

  1. ensure that the way that drugs are appraised for use in the NHS works to serve patients better
  2. ensure that local funding decisions are being made on a consistent basis, and that exceptional case committees are working to a common process
  3. get better value for money for the drugs it is purchasing
  4. increase the amount the UK spends on cancer drugs

Cancer Research UK has responded to the consultation on whether patients should ‘top up’ their cancer treatment as an addition to standard NHS care.

 

Browse related content