28 July 2016 - Addaction says NHS England decision to treat just 10,000 people a year with costly drugs is ‘potential death sentence’.

NHS England has been accused by a charity of “abandoning” thousands of people to a potential death sentence by rationing drugs that can cure hepatitis C.

An estimated 215,000 people in the UK have chronic hepatitis C infection (160,000 in England), which new but costly drugs can cure. Addaction, a charity that helps people overcome drug and alcohol abuse, says the decision to treat 10,000 people a year is “manifestly unfair”.

Addaction is backing a judicial review application brought by another charity, the Hepatitis C Trust, over NHS England’s decision to cap the annual numbers on cost grounds.

“The decision by NHS England to limit access to treatment is manifestly unfair on a group of vulnerable people who suffer from a terrible disease,” said Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction. “Those who are infected can go on to develop cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. Denying these people life-saving treatment is a potential death sentence for thousands.”

Read The Guardian article