Scandal in the NHS

Jul 10 2008 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HOW much is your life worth? Before you dismiss it as a ridiculous question it’s worth remembering that many desperately ill people have asked themselves the same thing.

Today we reveal the shocking plight of patients denied potentially life-saving drugs, against medical experts’ advice.

Treatments which could help people have been withheld in many areas.

Our report in today’s Examiner highlights the plight of sufferers of multiple sclerosis. But it could equally apply to people with other conditions.

The so-called postcode lottery is a national scandal.

There is simply no justification for services being available in one part of Britain and not in another.

For patients’ families to have to hold fundraising events so they can buy drugs they have been told will prolong or improve a loved one’s quality of life is an utter disgrace.

They find themselves trapped by the inflexible, some might say heartless, procedures of the NHS.

The big question is how such discrepancies exist. It is an issue which needs close scrutiny.

One British Medical Association expert says millions of pounds of Government cash is being wasted on reforms that have few benefits for patients.

Our health service is wracked by superbug scandals, claims of over-stretched medics and over-paid managers.

Meanwhile, patients are left to wonder when they will get a look in.