Once again health economists are deciding what treatment patients can receive not doctors.The excuse given is the mantra that money saved on expensive anti-cancer drugs can be spent on "more deserving " patients which means generally depriving the elderly in favour of the young. That is not the reason.The need to save money in the NHS is to pay for the vast bureaucracy that burdens the NHS.Patients do without whether they know it or not to subsidise these organisations be they institutes or agencies or whatever. No wonder doctors and in this case,the medical oncologists at the Christie,are so demoralised when they cannot treat their patients in the way they know is needed.Other Europeans have access to these new anti-cancer drugs without quibble but not in the bureaucrat-riddled British National Health Service. NICE is very nasty - endoff but you can bet they know the ways to get the drugs they ban to their loved ones.