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Wilson’s partner fights drugs lotto

Pamela Welsh
27/ 3/2008

THE partner of music mogul Tony Wilson has spoken out against the postcode drugs lottery which denied him NHS cancer treatment in his final months.

Yvette Livesey said it was ‘soul destroying’ for cancer patients to be told that it was too expensive for doctors to prescribe drugs.

She called on the Government to review the system of research and trialling of drugs and said the medical watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, should speed up access to drugs.

Salford-born Tony, the former Factory Records and Hacienda boss, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2006 and his doctors at the Christie Hospital recommended he was given a new drug to ease his condition - but Manchester health chiefs refused to pay for it.

His showbiz friends stepped in, paying for him to be treated privately until he died last August at the age of 57.

Ms Livesey, who was Tony’s partner for 18 years, has joined forces with Mike Tomlinson, the widower of fundraiser Jane Tomlinson, to raise the issue of cancer drug treatment.

She said: "The hardest thing is knowing you have something, knowing there’s a drug out there and knowing you can’t be treated,

"His whole life he paid his NHS, paid his taxes - well almost paid all his taxes! And he was so lucky because being who he was people in music industry went ‘what do you want?’, and he had so much support and finances from the music industry to pay for his drugs privately.

"But it’s so wrong if you don’t live in Cheshire, or if you live in Scotland or you live in the wrong primary care trust."

Ms Livesey was speaking in an interview broadcast on BBC Radio Five Live.

Greater Manchester health bosses are still considering whether routinely to fund Sutent - the drug Tony campaigned for - from next month.

Steve Sutcliffe, on behalf of the Association of Greater Manchester primary care trusts, said: "Currently each primary care trust in Greater Manchester considers whether to fund Sutent on a case-by-case basis.

"How we fund Sutent in the future is currently being given proper consideration."

Mrs Tomlinson, 43, lost her battle with cancer after raising more than £1.75m for charity.