The Cancer Drugs Fund has led to a ‘devastating divide' in access to treatment between England and other home nations, according to a cancer charity.
Equal funding could be achieved across the nation at an extra cost of £1 per person per year for residents of Wales and England who are not able to access the fund, the Rarer Cancers Foundation (RCF) added.
It found that people in Wales were five times less likely to get access to a newer cancer drug on the NHS than those in England, while those in Scotland were three times less likely.
If funding and access levels were the same nationwide, it would benefit 159 more patients a year in Wales and 248 in Scotland.
The charity's Nation Divided? report took aim at both the Scottish and Welsh governments for displaying ‘a concerning degree of complacency about access to cancer treatments'.
‘In the light of the findings in this report, the time has come for the Scottish and Welsh governments to act to address the inequalities in access to cancer treatments that now exist,' it said.
Cancer coverage has been a key factor in many private medical insurance (PMI) products and cash plan providers are now beginning to target the sector.
Andrew Wilson, chief executive of the RCF, added: "The Cancer Drugs Fund is great news for people in England and has already benefited thousands of patients.
"However, a devastating divide has opened up with Scotland and Wales. A cancer drug does not become any less effective simply because it is prescribed on the other side of a border. Nor does a patient's need become any less pressing.
"The NHS should be there when you need it the most, regardless of where you live. People in Scotland and Wales will want to know why their chances of accessing a life extending cancer drug are so much lower than their neighbours in England," he added.
