Cancer mum wins legal battle with nhs over op
A MUM-OF-TWO has won a High Court battle against the NHS after it refused to fund her potentially lifesaving cancer treatment.
Maria Wallpott, from Pontllanfraith, Caerphilly, was diagnosed with stage four appendix cancer in April which spread to her ovaries.
A colorectal surgeon recommended she undergo a specific type of chemotherapy and procedure which involves flushing the abdomen with heated anti-cancer medications.
However, while the £73,000 treatment is automatically available to patients in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, it is currently only granted in exceptional circumstances in Wales.
The Welsh Individual Patients Funding Requests (IPFR) panel, on behalf of the Welsh Health Specialist Services Committee (WHSSC) and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, denied her doctor’s request for funding in July.
Following a three-day hearing at the High Court in Cardiff, Maria and her legal team won on all five legal grounds argued in court. The judge found that the decision of the panel was unlawful.
It means the panel will now be required to reconsider the decision.
Maria, 50, said: “I am relieved that the judge has ruled in my favour. The quality of mercy is not restrained by Mrs Justice Steyn.
“The IPFR panel, made up of nonexperts in my condition, have forgotten they are dealing with a human being, not hypothetical case studies.
“I still, however, need the IPFR panel to do the right thing and give me a chance of surviving this cancer.
“I want to live to see my children graduate, fall in love, and have their own children. Is that too much to ask?”
Katy Cowans, the specialist medical treatment disputes and human rights lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Maria, said following the hearing: “We’re delighted that the court has handed down judgement in Maria’s favour.
“This will give her the best chance at surviving her illness and the court has found that the decision of the health trust panel was unlawful.
“Understandably, Maria was devastated at the prospect of not being granted approval for NHS funding the treatment that could save her life.
“This was made all the more worse by the fact that if she lived elsewhere in the UK, it wouldn’t be an issue.
“Maria waited several months for the panel’s decision and was refused approval twice, despite her specialist medical team believing she needed the treatment and surgery and she meets the exceptional criteria
requirements.
“We therefore thank the courts for hearing Maria’s case and wholeheartedly welcome their decision.”
Maria added: “I would like to thank surgeon Mr Gethin Williams, Irwin Mitchell solicitors, Mr Vikram Sachdeva QC, Delyth Jewell and Peredur Owen Griffiths Senedd Members, and my team at Velindre.
“These are the people whom have tried their hardest to save my life.”