Clegg: Allow cancer patients the right to buy life-extending drugs

Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg has called for patients to be allowed to pay for extra treatment without losing their rights to free NHS care.

Speaking at the think-tank Reform in London, Nick Clegg spoke of incidents of patients being refused NHS treatment because they had bought life-extending cancer drugs.

He said there was a conflict between the needs of the large organisation and the needs of individual people, and that people should not be denied the right to top up their care - particularly where they are following their doctor's advice - when the NHS has finite resources and cannot provide everything for everyone.

He said that an extra week of life 'may not count for much on a bureaucrat's chart, but it was everything to someone who was saying goodbye forever to their children and grandchildren.'

Nick Clegg also outlined Liberal Democrat plans to guarantee patients private treatment if NHS treatment is not available within set waiting times. He touched on plans to extend direct payments and personal budgets so people with long term and chronic conditions choose what care they need.

The speech also examined Labour's failed attempts at NHS reform, branding the service a 'guinea pig' for the New Labour experiment in massive central spending and control.