Tory MP David Davies suggests the NHS shouldn’t fund life-extending drugs for elderly A Tory MP has questioned whether the NHS should fund vital life-extending drugs for the elderly. David Davies, a prominent […]

A Tory MP has questioned whether the NHS should fund vital life-extending drugs for the elderly.

David Davies, a prominent Brexit backer and chair of the Welsh Affairs select committee, said he isn’t sure the “enormous expense” to keep older people alive is justifiable.

The controversial comments came after a poll found that 82 per cent of voters support a 1p rise in National Insurance to fund the NHS.

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Is it justifiable?

Mr Davies, 47, told talkRADIO host Julia Hartley-Brewer: “There are drugs out there that will keep people alive for a few months longer, maybe being delivered at the end of what might have been a long and productive life at enormous expense.

“And I think we need an honest debate about the cost of some of these drugs because I’d like to see people in their – young people of course getting access to this – but I’m not sure how justifiable it is.

“And this is difficult to say, when somebody is in their 80s, and they’re at the end of what’s been a long and happy life, to try and keep somebody alive for an extra couple of months at a cost that that could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds is something we need to be talking about.”

Asked if he supports the National Insurance rise – which is backed by 81 per cent of Tory voters and 86 per cent of Labour voters – he called for the money to be “spent on better healthcare for people and not just thrown away on pay rises, new buildings and all the rest of it.”

Criticism

But in 2014 the MP for Monmouth, south Wales, used the same argument to attack Labour.

The official Welsh Conservatives Twitter account praised Mr Davies after he criticised the Labour-run administration in Wales for not providing life-extending drugs – despite now suggesting he is against the expenditure.

.@davidtcdavies is right to point out how many patients in the Labour-run Welsh NHS are unable to access life-extending treatments #WelshNHS — Welsh Conservatives (@WelshConserv) March 12, 2014

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK told i: “Access to treatment for any health condition should always be based on medical need, never on age.

“Yet all too often older people are not getting the treatment which would be the most effective for their illness because of ageist assumptions.

“As we approach the NHS’s 70th birthday it’s crucial to remember that the service exists to treat everyone equally based purely on their medical needs, not how young or old they are.“