Garmon Rhys The Politics Show Wales

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The Assembly has seen some protests, but none quite like this.

Jayne Sullivan held a sleep-in in the National Assembly Milling Area in protest against the postcode lottery for breast cancer treatment in Wales.

She wants to see the drug Herceptin available to all women in Wales who need it at the early stage of breast cancer.

But it is not licensed for that use yet.

Jayne Sullivan's protest and the actions of many women like her have made Herceptin a major political issue- but it is not the only treatment that doctors and patients want better access to.

The Politics Show Wales has discovered that the opposition parties in the Assembly could this week force the Health Minister, Brian Gibbons, to look into getting new drugs made available more quickly.

Jayne Sullivan - Sleep-in protest

With the support of the other opposition parties on Tuesday, they want to force the Health Minister to investigate how speed up access to new drugs, improve availability and assess the extra costs that will involve.

But Brian Gibbons urges caution. "Certainly I think there is a ground for improving the speed by which some drugs are assessed," said the Health Minister.

"However there is an issue of balance as well and there are occasions in which speed does not always allow the full range of information to be available to make a fully informed decision."

His views are echoed by Professor Ceri Phillips.

He sits on the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group, which advises on when and how drugs should be prescribed in Wales.

Professor Phillips says it is essential that drugs are licensed to make sure they are effective both in terms of treatment and their cost to the NHS

"If we provide therapies for some, that money is not available to provide other therapies, so I would advise caution that we should not open a back door route for new therapies."

As his party tries to gather support for their proposals on prescription drugs, we question Mike German the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the National Assembly.

The Politics Show

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Tune in to BBC One on Sunday 12 February 2006 at 11.55am.

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