MS groups in call for better access to treatment

Multiple sclerosis patients could be driven to suicide by a lack of access to treatment, a campaigner will tell MPs today.

Debbie Purdy says that guidance on assisted suicide issued in 2009 is being "undermined" because the quality of life of MS sufferers is being damaged by inconsistent access to medication.

The right-to-die campaigner, who fought for clarification of suicide laws in England, is set to speak at the All Party Parliamentary Group on MS.

She said: "People are making choices because their lives are unbearable. I've got permission to live, but now we've got to look at what my life is.

"Now I've got the clarity in the law and I'm confident that my husband would not be prosecuted. I want my life to be worth living. People are choosing to end their lives because the provision of medication and care is not suitable for that individual."

Ms Purdy is trying to get a drug called "Sativex", which helps relieve spasms caused by the disease, on the NHS. The four anti-spasmodics routinely prescribed by her local health trust cause her unpleasant side effects.

A government report published last year showed that the UK came 13th out of 14 developed countries in the amount of drugs prescribed for MS.

It said the low level was partly down to "a cautious and/or sceptical attitude among some neurologists regarding the benefits of treatment".

The MS Society says there are geographical inconsistencies because funding decisions about treatment are made by local health authorities.

Director of policy and research for the MS Society, Dr Jayne Spink said: "People with MS should have access to proven treatments, no matter where they live in the UK.

"Withholding the right treatment is totally unethical and can have an absolutely devastating effect on people's lives.

"People with MS have the right to a full life and it's high time that the people holding the purse strings recognised this."

MS affects around 100,000 people in the UK.