Welsh
Cancer Drugs Fund
5th September 2011
William Graham (Conservative AM for South Wales
East) speaking in Plenary debate calling upon the Welsh
Government to establish a Cancer Drugs
Fund:
William highlighted that the Health budget
in Wales is being cut by 5.8% over the next 3 years. NHS
funding per head in England will grow £1,926 per head in
2009-10 to £2,035 in 2012-13; in this time funding in Wales
will fall from £2,075 to around £2,002 per
year.
“It has been verified that each year £1
billion of the Welsh NHS budget is not utilised effectively as
a result of ‘extremely costly’ mistakes; more than £50 million
of medicines are returned to pharmacies unused, and must be
incinerated. This is money which is literally going up in smoke
that could otherwise be used to provide life-prolonging
treatments”.
I acknowledge the MacMillan Cancer Support
claim that the present system is ill-equipped to deal with the
growing number of people needing help; services are not keeping
up with the changing nature of cancer and their on going
needs."
“Cancer treatments are changing.
Increasingly the focus is upon recovery and cure”. A Welsh
Cancer Drugs Fund would direct treatment to the most effective
drug for each individual patient’s
requirements”.
 
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