A FATHER-of-three is threatening to take his primary care trust to the High Court to force them to pay for cancer treatment.

Jeff Hurrell, 57, has been told by a hospital consultant that he would probably benefit from Alimta, a recently licensed drug which can extend the lives of people diagnosed with the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.

But his local NHS funding body, North Tees Primary Care Trust (PCT) is refusing to pay for patients to be treated with the £25,000-a-time anti-cancer drug, even though it is being funded elsewhere in England.

Now Mr Hurrell, of Norton, near Stockton, is considering taking the PCT to the High Court to seek a judicial review that would force the NHS body to pay for the drugs which could prolong his life.

"I have been advised that I have good grounds for a judicial review," said Mr Hurrell.

The reasons for not funding Alimta given by the PCT are the same as those given to fellow mesothelioma sufferer, Bernard Hoyland, 63, from Marske, east Cleveland, who has also been denied access to Alimta by his local NHS funding body, Langbaurgh Primary Care Trust.

Like Mr Hurrell, Mr Hoyland has been told by his consultant that he could benefit from Alimta.

Both PCTs are part of the region's Cancer Care Alliance (CCA) network, a committee of specialist cancer doctors from different hospitals.

The CCA meets at regular intervals to decide which new cancer drugs should be funded in South Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire.

The problem is that Alimta has not yet been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), an independent body set up by the Government to make recommendations on which new drugs should be funded by the NHS.

A similar situation has forced retired farm worker David Syers, 67, from Thornton Watlass, near Bedale, North Yorkshire, to pay about £7,500 for private treatment with the anti-prostate cancer drug Docetaxel combined with monthly doses of another drug called zelodronic acid.

Again, Nice has not ruled on Docetaxel and Mr Syers local PCT is unable to fund the drug at this stage.

Mr Syers said it was "very disappointing" to have worked and paid national insurance contributions all his life to be now denied vital treatment on the NHS.

A spokeswoman for North Tees PCT said they had great sympathy with Mr Hurrell's situation but could not fund Alimta until it had been considered by Nice