People will soon be forced to pay for their own cancer care as the NHS will be unable to cope with t...
People will soon be forced to pay for their own cancer care as the NHS will be unable to cope with the increasing cost, said cancer specialist Dr Karol Sikora.
Speaking at the COVER Protection Forum, Dr Sikora, professor of cancer medicine and honorary consultant oncologist at Hammersmith Hospital, said that in the future everyone will be paying for innovation in cancer care as there is no other feasible solution.
He said the US is currently spending twice as much as the UK is on healthcare and added the UK will have to follow suit.
"Technology will get better, but healthcare will cost more over time as it will deal with the pursuit for prevention, screening, diagnosis, surgery, radiotherapy, drugs and supportive care.
"Looking ahead to cancer therapy in 2026, radiotherapy will become more expensive due to technology. The problem with cancer is that it spreads and targeted therapies such as Herceptin are extremely expensive," Dr Sikora said.
He added that the media did not acknowledge the real cost of new cancer treatment. He said: "The mainstream press underestimates the true cost of drugs. The price of Herceptin is shown as £24,000 but is actually closer to £60,000."
Another problem is that not only are these drugs expensive but they are not always that effective, he said.
He believes this will result in a financial crisis. Dr Sikora concluded: "Maybe cancer patients will start to monitor themselves but who is going to pay? If people aren't going to self-pay, then they will rely on insurance."
