NHS top-up care ban under attack

The government is against co-payments

A Tory MP is calling for an end to a policy he says penalises patients who top-up NHS treatment with private care.

MPs are to discuss the issue following a number of high-profile cases of patients being denied NHS care after paying privately for extra treatment.

Billericay MP John Baron is raising it in the House of Commons after the death of one of his constituents.

Linda O'Boyle, 64, died earlier this year. She had been refused bowel-cancer treatment after buying drugs privately.

She paid �11,000 for an eight-week course of the drug Cetuximab.

This policy is inhuman and illogical John Barron, Tory MP Send us your comments

Currently, anyone who pays for any form of private treatment - even drugs unavailable on the NHS - can be barred from the normal package of NHS care.

Mr Baron, who has tabled a parliamentary debate on the issue, said: "This policy is inhuman and illogical. The point of co-payments is that it is not taking care away from any patients.

"It is a nonsense. All you are doing is allowing them to buy a drug which is not approved for the NHS but could prolong or even save lives."

He contrasted the approach with other forms of NHS treatment.

"With dentistry, you can have an NHS filling and then top this up by having you teeth cleaned privately. It just does not make sense."

Opposed

But the Department of Health said the government was opposed to changes, as allowing top-ups would favour the rich.

"Co-payments would create a two-tier NHS because there would be preferential treatment for those who can afford it," a spokesman said.

The independent Doctors for Reform group is preparing a legal challenge against the stance.

Helen Rainbow, a spokeswoman for the group, said: "Doctors feel very frustrated by this. It goes against what they want to do and that is the best for their patients."

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