Cancer Drugs Fund

Monday 12th January 2015 Ministerial Corrections

The following is an extract from Questions to the Secretary of State for Health on 25 November 2014.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

6. How many patients have received treatment through the cancer drugs fund since the inception of that fund.

[The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

More than 60,000 patients in England have received treatment through the cancer drugs fund since its inception in October 2010. They and their relatives will be very concerned at the suggestion made by the shadow Health Secretary last month that a Labour Government could abolish the fund.

[David T. C. Davies]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on that very high figure. Is he aware that some of those people who are being treated have had to sell up their homes and move here from Wales, where they are routinely denied life-prolonging cancer drugs by the Labour-run Welsh Assembly Administration. What does that teach us about the respective differences between the health services in England and Wales?

[Mr Hunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. The last Labour Government did leave us with one of the lowest cancer survival rates in western Europe, which is one of the reasons why we introduced the CDF. Unfortunately, the current Labour Government in Wales are continuing with those policies, which is why 6,500 Welsh cancer patients were admitted for treatment in English hospitals last year.

[Official Report, 25 November 2014, Vol. 588, c. 732.]

Letter of correction from Mr Hunt:

An error has been identified in the response I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Monmouth (David T. C. Davies) during Questions to the Secretary of State for Health.

The correct response should have been:

[Mr Hunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. The last Labour Government did leave us with one of the lowest cancer survival rates in western Europe, which is one of the reasons why we introduced the CDF. Unfortunately, the current Labour Government in Wales are continuing with those policies, which is why last year there were 6,500 admissions to English hospitals for cancer treatment where the patient was from Wales.