Cancer drug cost ‘couild cause meltdown of NHS’

A leading cancer doctor has claimed that the cost of new medication in oncology could result in the meltdown of the NHS.

Professor Karol Sikora told Sky News that while the next generation of cancer medication will be able to keep patients alive for longer, their expense would cost around 50 billion pounds.

This figure is around half the current budget of the whole health service.

Currently the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) blocks the use of cancer drugs on the NHS it assess are not cost effective.

In the two to three years it takes for NICE to make its decisions, local primary care trusts are forced to decide whether or not to treat patients with these compounds.

Professor Sikora said: “The calculations I’ve done for Sky News show a pretty bleak picture unless we have drastic change.

“The NHS is going to face meltdown just because of one disease, so we’re going to have to restructure things for the future.”

She added that new ways of bringing money in to the health service must be considered, which represents a major political challenge.

NICE is currently seeking new members for its independent advisory committees on the use of health technologies.