RARER CANCERS FORUM REPORTS

That this House welcomes the investigations by the Rarer Cancers Forum into the processes used by the NHS to determine exceptional funding requests for treatment; congratulates the Rarer Cancers Forum on the reports resulting from its investigations, Taking Exception and Exceptional England?; expresses concern at the large variation in assessing applications for exceptional funding between different NHS organisations identified in the reports; expresses further concern that a patient is less likely to make an exceptional funding request if they live in a deprived area; notes the finding in Exceptional England? that the average cost to a cancer patient of paying privately for a top-up treatment is in excess of £20,000; and calls on the Government to investigate the viability of implementing each of the recommendations in the reports so that all patients with cancer are provided with clinically-effective cancer treatments on the NHS if they have been recommended by their doctor.