Primary Care Trust Backs Down Over Decision Not To Provide Life Saving Drug to Single Mother
Single mother of four Elaine Barber (41) has today won her fight to be given the drug Herceptin by her local health authority, North Stoke PCT. This comes just one day after the PCT had refused her the drug for the second time, a decision which had seen Ms Barbour's lawyer's Irwin Mitchell threaten to proceed with the legal action lodged in the High Court for her right to be given the drug.
(PRWEB) November 11, 2005
Single mother of four Elaine Barber (41) has today won her fight to be given the drug Herceptin by her local health authority, North Stoke PCT. This comes just one day after the PCT had refused her the drug for the second time, a decision which had seen Ms Barbour's lawyer's Irwin Mitchell threaten to proceed with the legal action lodged in the High Court for her right to be given the drug.
The legal case and North Stoke PCT's decision also saw them drawn into conflict with the Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt who said that their ruling conflicted with decisions made by other Trusts, and had requested a meeting with the PCT today.
A jubilant Ms Barber said "I am absolutely over the moon. I hope now that the very many women like me who just want to be given the chance to live will also be given funding for the drug treatment. I can't believe that I have been put through all this just so the health authority can balance the books. Human life cannot and should not be measured in pounds"
Herceptin is a drug that, according to new evidence* halves the chances of the aggressive HER-2 form of the disease. Elaine's clinician had recommended that she receive the drug treatment, but she was first denied it on grounds of resources, licensing issues and an alleged lack of evidence of the drug treatment's success. Following the lodging of the judicial review last week by Irwin Mitchell at the High Court, the PCT reconvened to consider their initial judgement only to confirm the denial of the drug to Ms Barbour stating "At this stage... the evidence of this [Herceptin] as a cost-effective use of the finite health resources available for North Stoke patients is not confirmed". Today's decision shows a complete turn around in their position and brings hope for hundreds of women who need this drug.
Ms Barber's solicitor, Yogi Amin, from national law firm, Irwin Mitchell, said "We are delighted, our position has never wavered we knew that this was the right decision from the start and intended to take the case all the way through the legal process to ensure Elaine had the right to the drug treatment she was prescribed by her clinician. The PCT suggested that they should not decide between individual cases and seem now to have reversed their position and allowed the treatment in Elaine's individual circumstances.
"Other patient sin this situation being refused the drug treatment will have a legal claim to challenge their health authority".
The Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt recently gave a speech on breast cancer awareness in which she said that "PCTs should not refuse to fund Herceptin solely on the grounds of its cost" and has told drugs watchdog, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) to fast-track treatment guidelines.
This has increased the pressure on PCT's to provide these drugs and the fight has been spear headed by campaign group Women Fighting For Herceptin, made up of hundreds of early stage breast cancer patients who have the support of their clinicians but are nonetheless being denied this vital drug. They are being told they have to wait for general licensing which is not planned until at least 2007. Whilst cost is not being given as the sole reason, it is widely believed to be a contributing factor.
For further information, please contact David Standard at Irwin Mitchell.
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