Men ‘facing battle to get treatment for prostate cancer’

Ed. This is what national health care advocates want the US system to become.

London Telegraph Nic Fleming April 11, 2006

Prostate cancer patients are being denied access to specialist care and approved treatments because of financial difficulties in the NHS, campaigners said yesterday.

Charities said men are facing a “titanic battle” for care because many local health trusts facing deficits are abolishing cancer specialist nurse roles and refusing to fund treatments that government watchdogs have said should be publicly funded.

John Neate, chief executive of the Prostate Cancer Charity, who will today address the National Prostate Cancer Conference in London, said a “short-sighted and devalued” NHS was compromising patient care.

advertisementMr Neate said that nurses were losing their jobs because of the NHS deficits and the highly skilled and experienced clinical nurse specialists were particularly under attack because they were relatively expensive. Some were asked to become generalist nurses.

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