Public debate on access to cancer drugs needed
Access to high-cost cancer drugs needs to be addressed through a public debate, a report commissioned by Cancer Research UK has concluded.
The literature and policy review examines the legacy of the NHS cancer
plan. It was carried out by The King’s Fund, a charity that works
to inform health policy, on behalf of Cancer Research UK. One of the
key weaknesses of the current plan is, the researchers say, around policy
on the introduction of expensive new drugs. “We need a public debate,
with informed media coverage, about how to value the marginal gains in
survival associated with new cancer drugs,” they say. The reviewers
also argue that, although the cancer plan has achieved impressive results
since it was published in 2000, policies and services will need to be
developed to address its gaps and weaknesses.
Palliative care services are improving, but their development has been
relatively neglected during implementation of the cancer plan, they say.
In addition, the role of cancer networks needs to be revised in response
to changes in the policy environment, such as the arrival of foundation
trusts, new private sector providers, patient choice and payment by results.
Abi Jenkins, palliative care pharmacist for Pan-Birmingham Cancer Network,
says that the report accurately sums up the views of professionals working
in cancer and palliative care at the moment. “The cancer plan enabled
us to move cancer care forward quite dramatically but within the past
six years the NHS has changed and as a document it needs to be re-visited,” she
adds. “Of the key gaps and weaknesses the document addresses, at
last palliative care has been raised. Palliative care has always been
the poor relative in cancer with huge variations in access depending
on geography, diagnosis and sex,” Miss Jenkins says. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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