The lottery

Yesterday's Sunday Telegraph revealed the results of much research on spending on cancer treatment across different Primary Care Trusts. The data, from NHS records, analysed differences between 150 PCTs.

The results are nothing short of astounding. The highest spending PCT identified was Tower Hamlets, a relatively poor area in East London, which spent £14,295 on average on each cancer patient. The lowest spending PCT was East Leicestershire and Rutland with £4,989. Without listing all the highest and all the lowest spenders, from the list it is clear that spending is higher in metropolitan or large urban areas, and lower in rural areas. (Does this reflect a difference in funding which favours certain areas, or does it reflect a difference in patient campaigning?)

Within individual PCTs there is also, according to the Sunday Telegraph report, a large difference in outcomes between patients who are given certain cancer drugs and those who are refused.

In the case of University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust the Telegraph compared the fate of 40 patients who were given the drugs Sutent and Nexavar for kidney cancer, with 40 from whom it was withheld. Those given the drug survived on average 22 months, while those from whom it was withheld survived 7 months.

In the recent debate about the future of the NHS, whatever else is true, it is not true that all receive the same treatment for cancer. There is a post code lottery!