The husband of a woman who died of cancer but was denied free NHS treatment because the couple chose to pay privately from their savings for a drug to prolong her life yesterday urged the government to change its guidelines.
Linda O'Boyle, 64, who had bowel cancer, is believed to be the first person to die after fighting for the right for top-up NHS treatment alongside privately purchased cancer medicine - so-called co-payment. Six other patients are launching a legal action to allow NHS patients to top up their care with private drugs. Three of the cases, involving women with liver and bowel cancer, are expected to prompt a judicial review of the government's ban on co-payment.
The health secretary, Alan Johnson, claims co-payment would create a two-tier NHS with preferential treatment for patients who could afford the extra drugs. Last year he issued guidance to NHS trusts, ordering them not to permit patients to pay for additional medicines. Yesterday Brian O'Boyle urged the government to alter guidelines which state that patients who buy drugs privately should pay for NHS treatment. The couple paid £11,000 for an eight-week course of the drug Cetuximab after NHS consultants told them they had run out of options. Linda O'Boyle died on March 26.
Brian O'Boyle, 74, of Billericay, Essex, said: "It's not the NHS, it is the government guidelines that are restrictive and the PCTs [primary care trusts] interpret these in various ways - it is a lottery. I think every drug should be available to all of us if there's a need for that drug."
His wife, who had worked for the NHS as an assistant occupational therapist, was diagnosed with cancer in December 2006. She was operated on in January 2007 for bowel cancer, which had spread to her stomach lining. A mother of three children and four grandchildren, she had six weeks of chemotherapy and further treatment until September, when doctors told her there was little more they could do.
However, her consultant suggested a new drug called Cetuximab which could extend her life. He applied for permission to try the drug, which has not received approval from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, but was turned down. Her husband said: "I said to the consultant, I wanted to pay for this ... She knew and I knew she was not going to get better but if there was the possibility of spending more time with her four young grandchildren, to see them grow up a bit more, we wanted to take it."
The couple spent £11,000 on the course of drugs as well as the treatment she was previously receiving free from Southend University Hospital NHS foundation trust, which withdrew its funding. The trust said in a statement: "A patient can choose whether to continue with the treatment available under the NHS or opt to go privately for a different treatment regime. It is explained to the patient that they can either have their treatment under the NHS or privately, but not both or in parallel."