Telegraph (KC) 27-Aug-08

From Kidney Cancer Resource

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NHS set for record £1.75bn surplus as patients protest over cancer drugs

The health service is expected to have a £1.75billion surplus in the bank by the end of this financial year leading to calls for it to be spent on patient care instead.

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor

Officials at the Department of Health said the figures showed the NHS was in a strong position and key targets on cutting waiting times, hospital infections and improving access to GPs were all on course.

But the figures come at a time of controversy over a series of decisions by the Government's drugs watchdog, the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence, to deny a range of treatments available in many other European countries from patients on cost grounds.

Patients protested outside the NICE headquarters for access to kidney cancer drugs which - although they extend life by a matter of months - have not been judged a cost effective use of NHS money.

Meanwhile Andrew Dillon, chief executive of Nice, apologised to patients for the two and a half years it took for them to evaluate the drug Lucentis for an age related eye disease, meaning thousands will have lost their sight while they deliberated.

He told the Radio 4 Today programme: "I am genuinely sorry that it has taken us so long to get to this point. Lessons could be learned by everybody involved."

Opposition MPs said the surplus, which stood at £1.6 billion at the end of the financial year in April, had only been achieved through cuts to patient care, staff training budgets and public health initiatives.

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley "There continue to be hospitals whose finances are far from stable as we can see from the difficulties hospitals have had in becoming foundation trusts and the number of PCTs who are rationing access to medicines.

"The Government should explain why money voted in by Parliament for healthcare is not being used to make sure patients get the access to treatment that they need."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "This surplus paints a misleading picture of the NHS.

"Massive profits are being racked up in various trusts, yet many areas of patient care are being starved of cash. Public health, alcohol treatment services and mental health are simply not getting the money they need.

"What the Government won't admit is that a surplus on the balance sheet is often achieved by making cuts to patient care."

The figures will be of little comfort to patients who protested outside the headquarters of the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence for access to kidney cancer drugs which although they extend life by a matter of months they have so-far not been judged a cost effective use of NHS money.

Nice uses a calculation based on improvement in the quality of life and extra length of life the new treatment adds over and above what already exists and this is not linked to the NHS budget in any way.

David Flory, Department of Health's Director General of NHS Finance, Performance and Operations said: "This is an excellent start to the year for the NHS. A strong financial position backed by good progress on delivery will continue to ensure high quality services for patients.

"The NHS is well on the way to delivering 18 weeks from referral to treatment and the progress on the MRSA target is a tremendous achievement that highlights how everyone working in the NHS has taken responsibility for making our hospitals cleaner and safer.

"Following on from its 60th anniversary, the NHS must now look forward to concentrating on sustaining progress and focusing on responding to what people need at a local level."

The surplus comes only two years after the NHS had record debts of almost £1 billion.

Patricia Hewitt, the then Health Secretary, ordered Primary Care Trusts to cut the debt, which led to staff being laid off and operations postponed.

Although there is an overall surplus, many individual trusts are still in debt and could be cash strapped for the next decade as they face pressure to get back in the black.

Earlier this week Trafford Health NHS Trust, in Manchester, admitted that it was still more than £7 million in debt, which it said could take 10 years to pay off.

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