MSP asked to intervene on drug rule

A GRANDMOTHER with a rare blood disorder has met with the health secretary to urge her to intervene after a health board refused to give her the treatment she requested.

Joyce Juszczak, 65, could not get the drug eculizumab through Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS, her local board, despite it being offered in some other areas and nationally in England and Wales.

She visited the Scottish Parliament yesterday, accompanied by her two daughters, to meet with Nicola Sturgeon MSP to discuss her case.

Mrs Juszczak, from Gourock, Inverclyde, has undergone eight blood transfusions in the past year after being diagnosed with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a condition affecting bone marrow and red blood cells.

The health board said her case had been considered under guidelines set out by the Scottish Government and taking into account advice from the Scottish Medicines Consortium and individual patient circumstances.

It said there were “very sound clinical reasons” why she was not prescribed the drug.

Mrs Juszczak said she hoped Ms Sturgeon would be able to overturn the health board’s decision.