Health board rejects breast cancer patient's plea for help

Jackie Blue

Health administrators have turned down an Auckland woman's request to have her Herceptin dosage, which she has paid for privately, administered at a public hospital, citing the burdens the drug treatment would place on already stretched staff.

Lindsay Scott, who paid $70,000 to get the drug privately, had asked the Auckland District Health Board to allow Auckland City Hospital to administer her treatment.

The Herceptin must be given under supervision and the dosage controlled. Mrs Scott has been told this will cost up to $50,000 if done privately.

But the board replied that if it granted her request, the move would open the floodgates to other women and would require extra staff.

It said an extra 2500 clinical hours - not including out-of-clinic time to manage other issues such as toxicity - would be needed if all 140 women in Auckland with early stage Her2 breast cancer wanted treatment at the hospital.

A Hawkes Bay woman has also had a similar request turned down on the same grounds.

National Party associate health spokeswoman Dr Jackie Blue has written to Health Minister Pete Hodgson asking him to allow public hospitals to treat women such as Mrs Scott as an interim measure.

But Mr Hodgson said he would not support any move to cover costs associated with Herceptin for just some patients.

"I know these are sensitive issues and many women are facing major costs to access Herceptin treatment, but I cannot allow the public health system to move away from its basic foundations of fairness and equity."

He saw Dr Blue's attempt to allow access for Mrs Scott as a reflection of her party's support for a two-tiered health system.

"Part-charging for secondary health treatment was a key plank of National's plan to Americanise the health system in the 1990s.

"National has tried to keep its policy detail quiet, but have finally come clean today by advocating for public hospitals to administer Herceptin treatments for those women who can afford to pay for the drug themselves."

But Dr Blue said Mr Hodgson was playing petty politics. "He has twisted what I have been advocating for.

"He should speak to the women who are directly affected before he starts making statements like that. I think it's pathetic. These women can ill afford this drug. They're knocking themselves out trying to scratch the money together."

Dr Blue said she wanted an interim policy that would help women immediately. "This drug will be fully funded in time - we hope - and it's just an interim policy."


Herceptin funding

* Last month, medicines regulator Medsafe granted provisional approval for the use of Herceptin to treat women with early-stage Her2 breast cancer.
* Funding agency Pharmac is now deciding if it will fund the drug, which would cost an estimated $30 million a year.
* The 21 district health boards also have to agree before the treatment is made available in public hospitals.