The good doctor…
DailyMail: A prominent cancer expert has said that expensive treatments should be rationed for the old in favour of giving them to younger patients.
Professor Karol Sikora, a former hospital director who runs a private cancer treatment firm, said that age “should be taken into account” when working out whether or not to treat a person.
He said that the NHS now “can’t do everything for everybody” because so many expensive treatments are available and budgets are tight.
Professor Sikora, who used to be in charge of cancer provision at a London hospital, and was once head of the World Health Organisation’s cancer programme, said current guidelines left cancer consultants in an “impossible” condition.
Writing in the Sunday Times, he said: “Do we really expect that people in their eighties with multiple insoluble health problems should have the same technology brought to bear on their cancer as those in their prime?”
“My view is that age should be taken into account when comparing the potential benefits of expensive treatments,” he said. “As technology improves, we simply can’t do everything for everybody.”
His comments chime with recent plans by the Department of Health which suggested taking into account ‘wider societal benefits’ when deciding whether to prescribe a drug.
The plans prompted fears from the NHS drugs watchdog, which said it was “not comfortable” with the idea.
If adopted, the proposals could see factors including whether a person has dependent children or is likely to return to work and pay taxes.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which approves drugs for NHS use in England and Wales, said it did not appear as if it values the lives of 20-year-olds more than 70-year-olds.
The organization’s head, Sir Andrew Dillon, said at the time: “There are lots of people who adopt the fair-innings approach: You’ve had 70 years of life – you’ve got to accept society is going to bias its investments in younger people. there are people who subscribe to that, but it’s not something we feel comfortable with.”
“We’re really concerned that we don’t send out a message that we value life less when you’re 70 than when you’re 20.”
Age campaigners immediately attacked the notion that how old a patent is should determine their care, and that the NHS should “treat everyone equally based on their needs”.
A spokesman for Age UK told MailOnline: “We recognize that NHS budgets are squeezed. But our health service exists to treat everyone equally based on their needs.”
“If doctor and patient agree that these new drugs would be of benefit they should be able to access them wherever possible regardless of their age. Decisions about who should and should not be treated should be based purely on clinical need not age – anything else is blatant age discrimination.”
The future?
DCG