Can you put a price on quality of life?
"If there's a treatment that may extend your life by up to three months, costs, for example, £2000 per month (i.e. unaffordable for most), but is not available on the NHS, would you want me to tell you about it?"
This is the question posed by a cancer specialist to iPM listeners. It's a dilemma she's increasingly facing.
Both Labour and the Conservatives say the health budget will be protected from spending cuts, but the NHS could face more difficult choices with a new and increasingly expensive drugs market.
In recent years there's been improvements to so-called modifier drugs for terminally ill patients - the pills won't cure you, but they may extend your life.
But the cost is huge. While the - gives guidance on which drugs primary care trusts should offer, trusts interpret the advice differently and make their own decisions about which drugs to fund.
We invited our cancer specialist to explain her situation
Listener Sheela Rao experienced the drug funding dilemma from the other side of the doctors' desk. Her husband was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in March 2000. His doctor said there was a drug that MAY help, but it wasn't funded by their trust. She starts by explaining how she felt the moment she was told.
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