Editor's blog Monday 5 April 2010: Conservatives' new cancer drug proposals attract more attention

Wheeeeeeee! The claim and counter-claim merry-go-round of NHS politics is gathering momentum. (Pre-electoral tension, innit?)

You may have seen that we discussed the Conservatives' new proposals on cancer drugs here and here.

Well, the iridescent John Appleby and the ineluctable David Jenner have since added their contributions to the discussion, as you can see here.

I liked Gideon George Osborne's promise quoted at the bottom to "make sure that there isn't wasteful government spending in the NHS". The post-Richards Review decision to allow co-payment top-ups have arguably facilitiated wasteful private spending in the NHS. Likewise, from a health economic point of view, the raised cost-effectiveness threshold for rarer cancers.

The media are not going to get off cancer drugs. You know that, and I know that.

The question is whether anyone can get a message through to the public about the issues.