"Health cuts are killing me" Sobbing cancer patient denied treatment tells David Cameron
9:16 am - 08/09/2012
DAVID Cameron was yesterday confronted by a sobbing cancer sufferer demanding to know why he is spending £12billion on aid while she cannot get treatment.
“Anna”, 68, spoke out after figures showed that the NHS faces a third year of cuts despite Mr Cameron’s pledge to keep pumping money into it.
She said she needed a £250,000 course of treatment in Germany because an allergic reaction had forced her to stop her NHS chemotherapy
“Anna” – using a false name because she has not told loved ones she is ill – said in a message recorded for a radio appearance by the PM: “I’m a cancer victim, or patient, waiting for treatment that isn’t on the National Health
“My local health authority is begging charities for my treatment.
"I had my last chemotherapy in May and it is a horrible feeling, waiting for £250,000 when they are giving billions away abroad. It is not fair – I need funding now.”
The squirming PM said extra drugs were being made available and falsely claimed NHS spending was rising.
He said the UK had a “moral obligation to help people in other countries even when times are tough”.
“Anna”, from Finchley, north London, who has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, later said he should make sure Britons are cared for before trying to solve the world’s problems.
She added: “I would say to him if your family is starving you wouldn’t go and feed your neighbours.”
The PM has angered many in his own party by pledging to increase aid from £9billion to £12billion to meet a UN target of each country contributing 0.7% of its earnings.
When LBC host Nick Ferrari pointed out that many Britons cannot afford to heat their homes he claimed the Government is trying to help them too and pointed to what aid has achieved.
“One thing we’ve done over the last couple of years is invest in vaccines and immunisation for children in the poorest countries,” he said.
“That has probably saved the lives of about three million children.”
But fellow Tories want the PM to freeze or cut aid and three ex-diplomats branded the 0.7% target “irresponsible”.
The Health Department said it was confused by Anna’s account because it sounded as if the treatment she needs should be covered by the cancer drugs fund.
Shadow Health Minister Liz Kendall pulled Mr Cameron up for saying that NHS spending had risen when it had fallen.
She said: “This Government must come clean about the real effect its cuts are having on the NHS.”
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/da
OP: Labour increase funding on the NHS because it was their initiative while the Tories cut funding because they don't like it. Nye Bevan who devised the health service famously said that the Tories were 'lower than vermin'. Further comment would be superfluous.
Anyway we need the money to give to countries overseas that have space programmes to pay for.
“Anna”, 68, spoke out after figures showed that the NHS faces a third year of cuts despite Mr Cameron’s pledge to keep pumping money into it.
She said she needed a £250,000 course of treatment in Germany because an allergic reaction had forced her to stop her NHS chemotherapy
“Anna” – using a false name because she has not told loved ones she is ill – said in a message recorded for a radio appearance by the PM: “I’m a cancer victim, or patient, waiting for treatment that isn’t on the National Health
“My local health authority is begging charities for my treatment.
"I had my last chemotherapy in May and it is a horrible feeling, waiting for £250,000 when they are giving billions away abroad. It is not fair – I need funding now.”
The squirming PM said extra drugs were being made available and falsely claimed NHS spending was rising.
He said the UK had a “moral obligation to help people in other countries even when times are tough”.
“Anna”, from Finchley, north London, who has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, later said he should make sure Britons are cared for before trying to solve the world’s problems.
She added: “I would say to him if your family is starving you wouldn’t go and feed your neighbours.”
The PM has angered many in his own party by pledging to increase aid from £9billion to £12billion to meet a UN target of each country contributing 0.7% of its earnings.
When LBC host Nick Ferrari pointed out that many Britons cannot afford to heat their homes he claimed the Government is trying to help them too and pointed to what aid has achieved.
“One thing we’ve done over the last couple of years is invest in vaccines and immunisation for children in the poorest countries,” he said.
“That has probably saved the lives of about three million children.”
But fellow Tories want the PM to freeze or cut aid and three ex-diplomats branded the 0.7% target “irresponsible”.
The Health Department said it was confused by Anna’s account because it sounded as if the treatment she needs should be covered by the cancer drugs fund.
Shadow Health Minister Liz Kendall pulled Mr Cameron up for saying that NHS spending had risen when it had fallen.
She said: “This Government must come clean about the real effect its cuts are having on the NHS.”
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/da
OP: Labour increase funding on the NHS because it was their initiative while the Tories cut funding because they don't like it. Nye Bevan who devised the health service famously said that the Tories were 'lower than vermin'. Further comment would be superfluous.
Anyway we need the money to give to countries overseas that have space programmes to pay for.
With you up to this point - International Aid is vital. Stop reading the Daily Mail. Just because those poor people are in countries other than the UK doesn't mean they're worth less and don't deserve our help.
And besides, Labour cut the NHS into pieces. The Labour that Bevan was a part of is dead - New Labour fucked up mental health care and if you want to hear about problems to do with Labour's health care ask anyone who went through/is going through transitioning. They created the PCTs that have regionalised healthcare.
No defence for any party here, but boosting Labour's record is laughable.
It's hard not to feel sorry for a cancer patient, but Anna appears to believe that she is entitled to a quarter million dollars, and that she deserves it more than those foreigners who get aid.
Forgive me if I sound like one of those pesky people with sanity, but if we'd just stop renewing our giant death machine then we'd be able to sort the economy and pump money into health and education - and it's education that forwards the frontiers of medicine, after all.
I think it is quite arrogant of this woman to believe she's more worthy of the £250,000 than the many people that could be helped in places like the Sahel.
There's a lot missing from this article. The way it's written, poor Anna is going to die over 250K pounds. But we have no idea as to how efficient the treatment she wants is (Would it cure her? Would it prolong her life another 6 months on average? Two months? Do nothing?) It would be good to know this prior to publishing something so inflammatory.
It does suck that the wealthy are *always* going to get better treatment. But it also sucks that kids die because they don't get enough food. At some point, I am inclined to say, "I'm really sorry, but life isn't fair." It's hard to tell here. But it would not surprise me if the treatment she wants isn't covered precisely because it is expensive and not super effective. (And so while I can see her desperately wanting to try it anyway, it may also make sense for the government to say "no".)
NHS funding is going to remain roughly the same, year on year, in real terms throughout the coalition. The coalition has cut the rate of increase in NHS funding, NOT NHS funding itself.
Yes, I guess it's sad that this cancer patient won't get funding for an unspecified treatment in Germany, but I'd have a lot more confidence in this article if it actually stated what that treatment was and whether it conformed to NICE guidelines for effectiveness etc.
I'd also have a lot more sympathy were I not in my 14th month of waiting to even get a first appointment at a gender identity clinic and were it not exceedingly likely that I'll have to write begging letters to the local council to get my ~£120 /month hormone treatment and ~£5000 top surgery - never mind that the provision of both is mandated by NHS guidelines, councils still try and block them. Seems like the only time money limits/waiting lists matter is when they affect cis people.Anyway, foreign aid money is basically a drop in bucket- but one that can make a massive differnce to millions elsewhere. I'm happy to have some of my tax money spent on vaccinating kids. It doesn't go nearly far enough in repairing all the damage our country's caused worldwide, but it's better than nothing.
Generally illness only matters if it's affecting white, straight cis people, this is true. =/
But the thing about government budgets is that they spend money on lots of things. Perhaps instead of cutting foreign aid there are other things that aren't needed. Like that gaudy mess of security at the London Olympics.
So, I certainly have sympathy for her, but her view that cutting foreign aid is the way to go is ridiculous and uninformed.
Cancer's awful. But I wonder how long this treatment would realistically extend this woman's life? The unpalatable truth is that the NHS does not have infinite resources. :(