Patient funding request for life-saving treatment – Law Society’s Gazette
‘The case of R (on the application of Wallpott) v Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board [2021] EWHC 3291 (Admin) [2022] ACD 27 involved a challenge to a refusal to fund potentially life-saving medical treatment. It concerned Maria Wallpott, a 50-year-old woman with a rare form of appendix cancer. Ms Wallpott’s clinicians had recommended that she undergo cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS with HIPEC). This treatment, involving the surgical removal of visible tumour and flushing with a heated chemotherapy agent, was not routinely available in Wales, in contrast to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. An individual patient funding request (IPFR) was therefore made by Ms Wallpott’s doctor to the Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee (WHSSC), which acted on behalf of the local health board. A WHSSC panel refused the request and maintained its decision on review.’
Law Society's Gazette, 20th May 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
