A DESPERATE cancer sufferer has been forced to spend more than £14,000 for a drug to keep her alive - because she no longer lives in the North-East.

The 63-year-old, who asked for her name to be withheld, used to live and work in Darlington but moved to Surrey.

Now she needs a new lung cancer drug called Tarceva - but her local NHS trust will not pay for it.

Had she still lived in Darlington, the life-giving treatment would have been available free because the North-East is the only region in England to allow GPs to prescribe the drug.

Last night, her 88-year-old father, who lives in Darlington, said he was appalled at the latest cancer lottery scandal.

Don Rawlinson said he was furious his daughter was having to go private to get Tarceva, which is available in Scotland, western Europe and China - but not in most of England.

The exception is the North- East, where Darlington father Dave Hill fought to have the drug prescribed on the NHS. Mr Hill succeeded - but tragically died six days later.

Mr Rawlinson's daughter was forced to go private, paying about £2,000 a month for the drug - plus additional fees to her consultant for x-rays and scans.

So far, she has spent £14,000 out of her savings on a drug that has given her pain relief, extra energy and a better quality of life.

Mr Rawlinson said his daughter was at death's door and was planning her funeral before she was prescribed Tarceva.

After reading in The Northern Echo that patients in the North- East could get Tarceva, she pleaded with her local NHS consultant to prescribe the drug, but Surrey Primary Care Trust officers turned her down on the grounds the drug was not costeffective enough.

Last week, one of world's leading lung cancer specialists, Professor Nick Thatcher, of Christies cancer hospital in Manchester, told The Northern Echo that the use of Tarceva on the NHS was "unanimously supported"

by UK lung cancer specialists.

Mr Rawlinson said he thought the situation was "very unfair"

and against the principles of Nye Bevan, who founded the NHS 60 years ago.

He said: "There is no such thing as an NHS any more. If my daughter lived up here she would get it, but because she lives in Surrey she can't."

Mr Rawlinson said the NHS and drugs watchdog Nice - the National Institute for Clinical Excellence - "need to be challenged"

on the issue of the costeffectiveness of new cancer drugs.

"The NHS must be there for the welfare of the patient and not to make a profit," he said.

Mr Rawlinson was staggered that Nice was not recommending a drug that had transformed his daughter's quality of life.

He said: "The drug has changed her life. She can walk now and she can even go out with her husband for the odd meal.

"She was in a lot of pain and constantly coughing. After taking Tarceva, the cough has disappeared, along with the pain."

Mike Unger, chief executive of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, said: "This is quite disgraceful. I have every sympathy for Mr Rawlinson and his daughter. Why should English patients suffer when the rest of the world, including China, gets this drug?"

"That is where Nice falls down.

They do not look at the quality of life that these drugs can bring.

If you have a very short time left, you have to have a good quality of life."

The Northern Echo revealed last week that Nice said it might veto Tarceva on the NHS because it is not cost-effective enough.

A spokeswoman for Nice said: "Nice is currently appraising the use of Tarceva for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer."

"Until Nice issues final guidance on the use of Tarceva for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer, individual cases should be assessed at a local level within the NHS."

The Department of Health said it was unacceptable for trusts to use the absence of Nice guidance as an excuse not to prescribe.