Latest life-extending cancer drug 'rationed by postcode': Dozens of hospitals refuse to hand out treatments

Hospitals are denying patients the latest  life-extending cancer drugs, a report reveals.

Dozens of trusts are failing to hand out  treatments for bowel, ovarian, lung and brain cancer that have been approved by  the NHS watchdog NICE.  Some of these drugs have been shown to boost  survival rates by a quarter while others have extended the lives of  terminally-ill patients by over a year.

The report - commissioned by the Department  of Health - also reveals that many hospitals are failing to prescribe the latest  treatments for heart attacks, asthma, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and Crohn’s  Disease.

In fact some of the drugs were approved for  use by NICE more than seven years ago.

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