A CANCER suffer who is paying £3,000 month for treatment denied to him on the NHS has blasted Black-burn MP Jack Straw for saying the system was "fair".

Renal cancer sufferer Keith Ditchfield said he was angered by Mr Straw's response after his case was raised in Parliament.

Mr Ditchfield's MP, Nigel Evans, told the chamber of his constituent's case.

East Lancashire NHS Primary Care Trust has refused to fund the drug for the 52-year-old, of Whalley Road, Sunnyhurst, Clitheroe.

The decision rests with the PCT as the drug has not been cleared for NHS use by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Ribble Valley MP Mr Evans told the Commons that PCTs were making different decisions about drugs, meaning some patients were getting treatments, other not.

He said: "Can we have an urgent debate to ensure that we stop the postcode lottery and we reinvent what was the National Health Service?"

But Mr Straw, Leader of the Commons, said: "You know very well that we have to have fairer systems for making judgements about the availability of treatments - that's what the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is there for."

The drug taken by Mr Ditchfield, Nexavar, has not been referred to NICE for appraisal by The Department of Health.

Mr Ditchfield, of Whalley Road, said: "It is not a fair system because NICE takes so long to appraise these drugs.

"The ones that should be appraised immediately are the ones that save lives and other drugs should come after that. That is a fair system. The current system is just a postcode lottery."

Mr Ditchfield, who runs his own business refurbishing hotels, said: "Nigel has been a rock. He has really fought my cause well for me."

The PCT said the evidence that the drug stopped cancerous tumours was not strong enough.

Mr Ditchfield's second appeal is on February 22.