India Vargo's Story In April 2008 India Vargo (47) from Tyneside was given four months to live after doctors discovered her terminal bowel cancer had spread to her liver. She was prescribed Avastin and after three treatments her tumour has shrunk by 45 per cent - small enough for it to be removed by surgery. She has been in remission for 12 months. Research by the drug manufacturer shows Avastin can typically offer patients an extra six weeks of life when taken at the same time as the chemotherapy drugs. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which gives advice on which new drugs or treatments should be available on the National Health Service (NHS), has not approved the use of Avastin. India Vargo paid for the drug herself. It costs £21000 per patient.

India Vargo's Story cont… NICE said 'We are disappointed not to be able to recommend Avastin but we have to be confident that the benefits justify the considerable cost of this drug. India Vargo said 'I'm proof that Avastin works. It can't be right that a person's chance of living depends on their financial circumstances. What if I hadn't been able to afford the drug? NICE should approve the drug and make it available on the NHS.’ 32,000 people were diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2008 (latest government statistics).

Inside the NHS The NHS is free at the point of use and paid for from general taxation; The NHS provides many different types of healthcare services and decisions have to be made all the time about which ones take priority; The NHS is the world's largest publicly funded health service; It covers everything from antenatal screening and routine treatments for coughs and colds to open heart surgery, accident and emergency treatment and end-of-life care;

Inside the NHS cont… The NHS employs more than 1.7 million people. Only the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Wal-Mart supermarket chain and the Indian Railways directly employ more people; On average, the NHS deals with1 million patients every 36 hours. That’s 463 people a minute or almost eight a second; Each week, 700,000 people will visit an NHS dentist, while a further 3,000 will have a heart operation.