Woman in postcode drugs lottery

Ms Barnes goes to Guildford, Surrey, for treatment but lives in Hampshire

A woman with advanced kidney cancer and six months left to live says she is missing out on a potentially life-saving drug due to her postcode.

The Hampshire health authority has refused to give Jackie Barnes, 52, from Yateley, the drug Sutent even though her doctors said she needed it.

However, two miles away in Berkshire and three miles east in Surrey many patients are getting Sutent.

Hampshire Primary Care Trust said it could not comment on individual cases.

Ms Barnes said: "Hampshire... [is] the one and only [PCT], I believe, that don't allow any Sutent funding at all."

Figures show that during 2007/2008, seven out of eight patients who requested Sutent in west Berkshire were given the drug.

In Surrey, 19 people out of 29 who applied were prescribed with Sutent.

Seven patients with kidney cancer requested Sutent in Hampshire but none of them were given the drug.

Six months left

Ms Barnes has been told she has about six months to live without the drug and said she has considered moving to Surrey to get Sutent but did not feel she should have to.

"We've lived in Yateley for 33 years," Ms Barnes said.

"I've worked within Hampshire for the social services, for charities within Hampshire most of my life. I think that Hampshire owes me something."

In a statement the trust said: "The drug Sunitinib - sometimes called Sutent - is one which is not normally funded by Hampshire PCT because there is insufficient evidence of long-term survival or cost-effectiveness with the drug."

Hampshire PCT said the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) currently recommends that Sunitinib is not used for the treatment of advanced and metastatic renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer).

"This is subject to consultation and formal guidance is anticipated in January 2009," it added.

"However, the PCT's referrals panel, clinically led by senior GPs with public health consultant support, does give individual cases based on exceptionality careful consideration."