Spend on cancer per patient in England 2006 - 2007

£7,607

Compare this with other PCTs: highest amount spent was £17,028, lowest was £5,182, and average PCT spend per cancer patient was £8,437.

Exceptional funding for cancer treatment

The following information was requested from the PCT under the Freedom of Information Act.

Written protocols
The PCT does not have written protocols to assess exceptional requests for cancer treatment. The PCT Business Manager stated that: "Exceptionality is, by definition, unique to an individual's case therefore the use of protocols in defining exceptionality is not appropriate".

Despite the above statement, on the PCT's website there is an 'Exceptional cases panel brochure for patients'. It makes interesting reading.  Here's an extract:

"The definition the PCT uses for the word ‘exception’ is “a person, thing or case to which the general rule is not applicable”. There is no complete list of conditions which are likely to come within the definition of an ‘exceptional case’.  Instead the PCT looks at each case and asks some questions about it. These are some of the questions the PCT will ask when deciding if a case is exceptional.

• Is there an unusual or unique clinical factor about the patient that suggests that they are:
  - Significantly different to the general population of patients with the condition in question?
  - Likely to gain significantly more benefit from the intervention than might be expected from the average patient with the condition?
  

The PCT also considers that:

• Just because a treatment is likely to be effective for a patient does not mean the case is considered exceptional
• If a patient’s clinical condition matches the ‘accepted indications’ for a treatment that is not funded, their circumstances are not, by definition exceptional.

What this means is that just because the treatment might work for you, or you are considered suitable for it, does not mean you are considered exceptional. You and your doctor must show that you are different to other people with the same condition. You must also show that you will gain more from having the treatment than other people with the same condition as you".

Cancer treatments funded/not funded  by PCT following exceptional requests

The PCT was asked to list all treatments funded/not funded by the PCT since 01 October 2006.  In reply, the PCT Business Manager stated that: "This information is not collected or readily available".