Cancer treatment funding cut despite high death rates
Aug 14 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal
HEALTH bosses have slashed cancer spending in the North East despite sufferers being more likely to die here than anywhere else in the country.
Figures seen by The Journal showed hospitals have cut vital treatment funds by around £12m in one year, despite years of spending increases.
The region’s health chiefs last night suggested the figures “might be misleading” as they did not reflect the full extent of funding and services available.
And, as they promised to tackle the region’s depressing treatment record, a map of the UK revealed the impact cancer was having across the region.
Healthcare professionals have been told to use the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) map to see which boroughs are failing to cope with which forms of the disease.
It revealed Hartlepool, South Tyneside and Easington have some of the highest death rates in the UK, with Alnwick and Berwick enjoying some of the lowest mortality rates.
Yet, despite the region’s shameful cancer survival rates, Department of Health figures showed spending in the Newcastle PCT area dropped by 18% in one year – a fall of more than £4.5m. The trust slipped down from being the seventh highest spending in the country to 37th. Northumberland’s £2.7m drop followed a 10% cut the previous year.
And in North Tyneside cuts saw £1.98m diverted away from all cancer treatment. But both Sunderland and Durham PCTs spent more on cancer care.
Health bosses across the region last night insisted the figures did not tell the full story. But the Department of Health said the figures were the most up to date available.
Last night, George Rae, regional chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said: “We cannot have a situation where one of the country’s worst areas for cancer rates is subject to 10% spending cuts and what is in effect a postcode lottery.
“It is these spending inconsistencies which threaten out treatment options and these, along with the work being done by NICE, need to be challenged and a solution reached which everyone, patients included, can agree on.
“Because right now the one thing that is unacceptable to all is that a patient stands a different chance of having enough money spent on their treatment based just on where they live.”
The NCIN said cancer statistics were the first step towards identifying risk areas and focusing treatment.
Professor David Forman, analysis lead for the NCIN, said: “These figures show us that some of the past trends aren’t changing – cancer death rates remain higher in the North than the rest of England.”
Gateshead East and Washington West MP Sharon Hodgson said the figures showed the need to tackle the health inequalities.
She said: “I’ve been urging Ministers to take the necessary action to tackle health inequalities for some time.
“I can understand how these figures might raise eyebrows when you look at them in isolation, but it is important to remember that the NHS has to promote prevention as well as trying to provide the cure.”
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