Britain's Healthcare Lottery

Jon Snow reveals the scale of the NHS postcode lottery that is denying some patients vital drugs, and for the first time offers a user's guide on how to fight the system to get the treatment you need.

Snow investigates why, despite pouring money into the NHS, the government has failed to tackle the lottery, and travels across the country to visit some of the people whose lives have been shattered by the rationing of certain treatments. He discovers decisions taken at local levels within the NHS that result in only one of two women, who are practically neighbours and have an identical condition, receiving the treatment they need.

With the help of medical information experts at 'Dr Foster', Dispatches has compiled a database that reveals the full scale of the lottery, focusing on 16 carefully selected areas of treatment such as cancer, heart disease, asthma and diabetes: conditions that affect nearly everyone at some point in their lives.

This database allows viewers to discover if they are victims of the postcode lottery and empowers them to challenge the decisions taken by their Primary Care Trusts.

Karol Sikora, Professor of Cancer Medicine and honorary Consultant Oncologist at Imperial College School of Medicine, talks on our podcast about the issues facing the NHS. Listen to his interview here.

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