Hundreds 'would miss out if cancer fund cut'

"I am romantic about the NHS; I love it. All I need to do to rediscover the romance is to look at health care in my own country." Donald Berwick, MD, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Hundreds of dying patients would lose out if ministers do not set up a £200m cancer drugs fund, campaigners say.

The Tories promised the money in opposition for those struggling to get access to treatment, but the government has since said there is no guarantee.

The Rarer Cancers Foundation said if just half the amount was made available - as some are suggesting - as many as 3,600 patients could lose out.

But an editorial in the Lancet criticised the fund as "indefensible"

The medical journal claimed the money would lead to a postcode lottery and was unfair on dementia and multiple sclerosis sufferers who arguably struggle just as much to access treatment.

It added: "Scratch the surface, and it quickly becomes clear that what this fund represents is not the victory for patient groups that some believe. Rather, it is the product of political opportunism and intellectual incoherence."

Oops.