Can the NHS really not afford second transplants for cancer patients like me? | Hannah Partos NHS England has stopped funding stem cell transplants for relapsed blood cancer patients. Experts have condemned the decision and it’s left me reeling.
If I had not been given a stem cell transplant, I would be dead by now. At 22, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, an aggressive form of blood cancer. Doctors told me a transplant of healthy stem cells from an unrelated donor was my only hope. Last month, I was thrilled to celebrate three years in remission. I hope the cancer never returns, but if it does, my only chance of survival will be another transplant. Except this time around, I might not be given that chance.
Two weeks ago, NHS England announced it would stop routinely funding second stem cell transplants for patients who have relapsed more than a year after their first transplant. NHS England, the body which oversees the budget for commissioning NHS services, has ruled that the treatment is “not currently affordable”, even though it was widely available in England before 2013, and is routinely given to patients in Europe and the US. Continue reading... The Guardian
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