Worrying new figures reveal cancer care unfairness – Bob Blackman

Bob Blackman, Harrow East Parliamentary Candidate, voiced his serious concern following the publication of new figures which reveal huge variations in the amount spent on cancer patients in different areas of the country.
 
The new statistics reveal huge discrepancies in funding between Primary Care Trust areas: each cancer sufferer in Harrow receives just £5,800 a year – by contrast, cancer sufferers in Nottingham receive £17,028 a year.
 
The figures may help to explain not only why inequalities in cancer death rates have widened during Labour’s ten years in power, but also why access to drugs for the treatment of cancer varies so much across the country.
 
Bob Blackman said:
“The Labour Government’s own statistics have revealed a huge disparity in funding for cancer services. I very much value the hard work by doctors and nurses in Harrow, but it is being hampered by Whitehall officials who are distributing health funding across the country unfairly.
 
“This is yet another example of Ministers mismanaging the NHS, taking no account of the needs of cancer patients, and creating a two-tier service. Unequal access to cancer care and treatment which is so apparent in various parts of the country cannot be tackled while there are such large variations in the funding for it.”