Set up in 2012 by Peter Telford, a barrister and a director at the Kidney Cancer Association, www.medlaw.eu offers a unique service to patients in the UK. Medlaw, which is linked to a number of major charities, is a self-help tool for patients to make applications and appeals to the NHS to have their treatment costs reimbursed. The Medlaw service provides information and guidance on the processes to follow, the forms that need to be completed, the evidence required, and on the relevant as pects of law.
The Medlaw site explains, “Many treatments are not routinely funded by the NHS or by the country's Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), including treatments and drugs for rare cancers, rare diseases, and bariatric surgery. Treatments for a host of acute and chronic medical conditions have to undergo applications for funding, under what is known as the Individual Funding Request (“IFR”) process. Cancers (including carcinomas, leukamias, lymphomas, sarcomas, or brain tumours) diagnosed in a metastatic phase are also sometimes subject to restrictions on the funding of treatment. Consultants have to apply on behalf of patients to a panel of the PCT, and sometimes have to appeal against the panel's decisions. www.medlaw.eu also helps individual patients make complaints in cases of alleged negligence in diagnosis or treatment." A survey conducted by Mr Telford in 2010 found that 21% of PCTs in England fail to provide this type of essential information to cancer patients.
Medlaw is a non-commercial website, carries no advertising, does not promote any particular drug or treatment, and has no pharmaceutical funding. It is independent of government, the National Health Service (NHS), and the healthcare industry in general.
The Medlaw site explains, “Many treatments are not routinely funded by the NHS or by the country's Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), including treatments and drugs for rare cancers, rare diseases, and bariatric surgery. Treatments for a host of acute and chronic medical conditions have to undergo applications for funding, under what is known as the Individual Funding Request (“IFR”) process. Cancers (including carcinomas, leukamias, lymphomas, sarcomas, or brain tumours) diagnosed in a metastatic phase are also sometimes subject to restrictions on the funding of treatment. Consultants have to apply on behalf of patients to a panel of the PCT, and sometimes have to appeal against the panel's decisions. www.medlaw.eu also helps individual patients make complaints in cases of alleged negligence in diagnosis or treatment." A survey conducted by Mr Telford in 2010 found that 21% of PCTs in England fail to provide this type of essential information to cancer patients.
Medlaw is a non-commercial website, carries no advertising, does not promote any particular drug or treatment, and has no pharmaceutical funding. It is independent of government, the National Health Service (NHS), and the healthcare industry in general.
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