Newton Abbot Conservatives petition for cancer drugs

Conservative parliamentary candidate Anne Marie Morris petitioned for more-widely available cancer drugs in Newton Abbot on Saturday.

It took place as part of the party’s national ‘NHyeS’ campaign day which saw thousands of people sign up at stalls across the country.

Local residents signed up to the petition backing Conservative plans to make all cancer drugs available on the NHS, at a stall in the town’s Courtenay Street.

David Cameron has said all patients with the disease should be offered life-extending medicines as long as the drugs have been recently licensed and are prescribed by their consultant – whether or not their use is backed by the NHS' rationing body, NICE.

Tens of thousands of patients could benefit from drugs for breast, colon, kidney and lung cancer which are now routinely denied to them, even though the treatments which can extend lives by months and years are widely available in other European countries.

The drugs will be paid for by the raising of the National Insurance threshold which will save the NHS £200 million a year in staff costs.
Anne Marie Morris said: “The Conservatives have pledged to increase spending on the NHS each year. We will stop the top down micro managing of the NHS by politicians and leave it to the healthcare professionals. We want to have the best cancer outcomes in Europe and our cancer pledge will help us achieve that.”

“The response was very good and there is backing for our health policies from many people.”