NHS complaint? I’ll deal with it, promises Nicola
First Minister intervenes on behalf of Left-wing writer’s father
THE First Minister has been dragged into a row over NHS care after she offered personally to look into a Left-wing commentator’s complaint about his f ather’s cancer treatment.
Nicola Sturgeon’s unusual intervention came after newspaper columnist Owen Jones tweeted her on Sunday evening, claiming his father had been denied chemotherapy drug Docetaxel.
Mr Jones posted: ‘My dad has advanced prostate cancer. He can’t have chemo because of lack of resources. But Scot Gov is underspending.’
By 9.15pm, Miss Sturgeon had replied: ‘Hi – pls email me re ur dad. Point about underspending not entirely true – but that aside, please email as keen to look into.’
Following Miss Sturgeon’s reply, Mr Jones tweeted: ‘ Should probably clarify I’m a big fan of @nicolasturgeon. Just trying to get answers for my dad and 100s of other advanced cancer patients!’
The exchange – only a month after Finance Secretary John Swinney admitted to a £200million underspend in the past year – prompted a huge reaction on social media, with many questioning why Miss Sturgeon had chosen to intervene in this case but not in others.
Donna Taylor said: ‘ Is it just because it’s @OwenJones84 or will you be looking to see if there are any similar unjust medical decisions?’
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: ‘Obviously we wish the best possible care for Mr Jones and acknowl- edge the First Minister’s willingness to intervene. However, this will not be the case with many other patients who may well be hoping for Docetaxel and being told similar bad news.
‘All are entitled to the same level of access and care.’
Scottish Labour health spokesman Jenny Marra called the situation ‘cruel and unfair’, adding: ‘The Scottish Government is in denial about the problems in our NHS and don’t have any plan to fix it.’
Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Jim Hume said: ‘It seems they think a Westminster Conservative cut of £107million is punishment but a John Swinney underspend of almost double that is prudent. Patients and NHS staff will find it dif f i cult t o understand t he difference.’
NHS Lothian medical director David Farquharson said it had recently started offering Docetaxel to ‘first line metastatic prostate cancer patients’ after the results of a trial were announced in May.
He added: ‘As the prevalence of cancer increases and more and more new cancer drugs emerge, we do face the challenge of balancing demand, capacity and delivering safe chemotherapy. We are seeing an 8 per cent increase in demand for chemotherapy year on year.
‘Our system for delivering chemotherapy is under review and a business case is being developed to ensure treatment is given appropriately, in the right place, at the right time.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said the budget for new cancer drugs had risen from £40million to £80million, adding: ‘The First Minister engages with many people on Twitter and responds to them and their concerns where she can – though due to the high volume of messages it is not possible for her to personally answer all of them.’
‘All are entitled to same level of care’