TERMINALLY-ILL patients were given fresh hope last night after the Government announced a £50m fund to pay for cutting-edge cancer treatments.

The fund will pay for medicines that can extend life or improve a dying patient’s quality of life – but which may have been rejected by NHS officials as too expensive.

The move was last night hailed as a breakthrough by cancer charities that predicted it will save hundreds of lives.

The fund could be a vital last chance for the scores of cancer sufferers who have been featured in The Northern Echo after being turned down for new drugs widely available in Europe and the US.

The plight of these patients led to the launch of The Northern Echo’s End NHS Injustice campaign, which called for patients to be given better access to new drugs.

The new approach will also cover drugs designed to treat other conditions and drugs not licensed by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

Doctors working in regional groups will decide how the funding is spent in their area, based on advice from cancer specialists.

It is likely they will make decisions based on groups of patients with a certain type of cancer, although they will also look at individual cases.

But there was confusion as to who would have the final say – doctors or Nice.

Announcing the fund, Paul Burstow, Minister for Health, said doctors would be able to override Nice.

But a Department of Health spokeswoman told The Northern Echo: “It is going too far to say that Nice will be overruled.

“We respect the expert independence of Nice and believe it must be allowed to continue to issue guidance free from political interference.”

Kidney cancer patient Graeme Johnstone, 54, from Middleton St George, near Darlington, has had several requests for new cancer drugs turned down on the basis of Nice guidance.

Last night, he said: “I think this is encouraging, but how are these new drugs to be delivered into the hands of the patient if it is left up to Nice?”

The initiative follows a report by the Government’s cancer tsar, Professor Mike Richards, which found Britain lags behind other countries in funding new drugs.

He said he expected the number of patients who will benefit from the fund to run into thousands over the next six months.

The interim fund will come into force in October, ahead of a full cancer drugs fund next April.

Before the election, the Tories said the cancer fund would total £200m, coming from the cash the NHS would save on its national insurance bill to the Treasury.

But critics have said the bill will be far higher and could increase to £600m.

Minister for Quality Lord Howe said the sum of £200m was an “aspirational” figure and that a decision on spending priorities will be made in the autumn as part of the spending review.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “I promised that I would help patients in England get cancer drugs that are readily available in the rest of Europe.

“It is a scandal that we are strong in cancer research and participation in clinical trials in the UK, yet NHS patients aren’t always seeing the benefits from the research swiftly enough.

“Patients should have access to innovative cancer drugs that can extend or improve their quality of life and which their doctors have recommended, which is why I am determined to take action now.”

When the pricing agreements between the Department of Health and the pharmaceutical industry end in 2013, the Government wants to carry out a comprehensive negotiation to ensure the NHS gets better value for money from new drugs.

Nick Turkentine, chief officer for the James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer, said the accelerated plans to pay for an emergency drug fund could no doubt save hundreds of lives.

Rose Woodward, a kidney cancer survivor and patient advocate for the charity, who has helped a number of North-East cancer patients apply for new drugs, said: “I now urge cancer patients who have previously been rejected for life-extending drugs to return to their doctors for a prescription.”