RARER CANCERS FORUM REPORTS

Motion Text

That this House welcomes the investigations by the Rarer Cancers Forum into the processes used by the NHS to determine exceptional funding requests for treatment; congratulates the Rarer Cancers Forum on the reports resulting from its investigations, Taking Exception and Exceptional England?; expresses concern at the large variation in assessing applications for exceptional funding between different NHS organisations identified in the reports; expresses further concern that a patient is less likely to make an exceptional funding request if they live in a deprived area; notes the finding in Exceptional England? that the average cost to a cancer patient of paying privately for a top-up treatment is in excess of £20,000; and calls on the Government to investigate the viability of implementing each of the recommendations in the reports so that all patients with cancer are provided with clinically-effective cancer treatments on the NHS if they have been recommended by their doctor.