Health board’s U-turn to pay for drug, after pressure from The Sunday Post.
A cancer patient forced to pay thousands of pounds for a life-saving drug has won her battle for free treatment on the NHS.
Mother-of-two Isabelle McManus had been paying £3,000 a month for the drug cetuximab a medication routinely given to patients in England and Wales after her application for funding was twice rejected on cost grounds by her local health board.
The treatment fees were largely met by friends, family and work colleagues. But NHS Ayrshire and Arran has bowed to pressure and agreed to pay the future costs. They’ll also refund Isabelle the £10,000 she has already spent.
The move comes after lawyers acting for her threatened legal action.
Last night the gran, who suffers from bowel cancer, said: “I’m absolutely delighted and need to thank my family and the community. It’s been a humbling experience. People have been so generous. My colleagues at Chemring Energetics raised more than £1,000.
“We got a phone call just before Christmas confirming the NHS would fund the drug it was a wonderful present. My scan results show it has been working and the disease is static. I go to see my oncologist next week and we’ll discuss it then.”
Cetuximab can reduce or even destroy tumours in some cancer sufferers. Doctors supported Isabelle’s claim for the drug but health chiefs twice refused to fund the treatment.
The case laid bare the huge battle cancer patients in certain parts of the country face to obtain treatments which are freely available on the NHS elsewhere.
Isabelle, from Stevenston, finally started the medication in November after raising enough money to pay for it privately. Scans have since suggested the drug is working for her.
Her case for funding on the NHS was due to go to the Court of Session after solicitor Cameron Fyfe launched legal action against NHS Ayrshire and Arran. It’s believed the case would have had wide-ranging implications for other cancer patients denied drugs on the NHS.
Now in a dramatic U-turn, the health board has decided to fund her treatment and reimburse her the money she has spent.
Her brother Matt, who has been fighting her case and helping to raise funds, said: “This is fantastic news and takes the pressure off my whole family. Isabelle can now concentrate on her treatment without worrying about all the other stuff.
“I can’t thank The Sunday Post enough for fighting our corner.”
But critics slammed the health board for forcing Isabelle to go to extraordinary lengths to get the drug in the first place.
Margaret Watt, of Scotland Patients Association, said: “This is great news and a victory for common sense. The Sunday Post highlighting this case must have put the health board under a lot of pressure as would the looming legal action.
“But what is worrying is the precedent it sets. Are patients expected to cough up for treatment to prove it works or threaten court action before the NHS acts? That makes no sense.
“If Isabelle didn’t have generous friends and family she would have been denied the drug despite it working for her.”
Cameron Fyfe, of Glasgow solicitors Drummond Miller, said: “This is a great victory. The legal challenge and the Sunday Post’s intervention meant the health board had to look again at their decision.”
Mark Flannagan, of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: “This is good news. However, patients shouldn’t be forced to spend their life savings to prove that treatments will be effective before health boards decide to fund them.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Ayrshire and Arran said where there was new clinical evidence they would review the decision.
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