100,000 Sign Welsh Cancer Drugs Petition

By Jason Farrell, Sky News Correspondent

A 100,000-signature petition is being handed in to the Welsh Assembly calling for cancer patients in Wales to get the same treatment as those in England.

Protesters will demand that a Cancer Drugs Fund be set up, similar to the one available for English NHS patients.

Sky News has learned of research suggesting some specialist drugs available on the English NHS, but more difficult to get in Wales, can extend life by an average of 11 months.

The issue of Welsh healthcare has become a political football in recent months.

The Conservatives claim the Labour-run service is failing patients, something strongly denied by the Welsh Government.

Video: Why Was I rejected For Cancer Drug?

The English Cancer Drugs Fund, worth £200m, was set up by the coalition Government in 2010 giving patients access to new drugs.

These drugs are licensed but not recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). The Welsh Labour Government has resisted the idea.

The Health Minister for Wales, Mark Drakeford, told Sky News it was an ethical decision not to have a fund.

Mr Drakeford said the fund would favour cancer patients over people with other types of illness and would undermine the purpose of NICE.

He said: "We don't have a cancer drugs fund because, as the best research says, it is ethically dubious, clinically contentious and unpopular with patients."

But many cancer patients disagree.

Beth Margetson, 50, from Porthcawl had to apply to a health panel for the potentially life-prolonging drug Afinitor, but she was rejected.

The Individual Patient Funding Request (IPFR) panels only approve patients who can prove "clinical exceptionality".

Mrs Margetson said: "I'm a 50 year-old woman with a 16-year-old daughter who wants to stay alive.

"I have an 87-year-old father who I have to look after. I want to stay alive.

Video: Oncologist Says Drugs Prolong Life

"I am exceptional because I should be dead by now but I'm fighting for my life so I have a right to have that drug.

"If I'd lived in Bristol I would have had it on the NHS."

John Wagstaff, a Professor of Oncology from the Cancer Institute based at Singleton Hospital in Swansea, said only 15% of his patients are considered exceptional by IPFR panels.

He has recently submitted research for publication by six oncologists which audited 600 kidney cancer patients in Wales, Scotland and England.

He says it shows average survival rates rise from 22 months to 33 months if two drugs, Axitinib and Everolimus, not approved by NICE, are used as treatment.

These drugs are available through the English Cancer Drugs Fund.

The Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew R T Davies said: "The reason why Mark Drakeford (Welsh Minister for Health) and Carwyn Jones (Welsh First Minister) will not bring forward a cancer drugs fund in Wales is solely political."

Some Welsh cancer patients have even moved to England.

Annie Mulholland has moved part-time to her daughter's house in London so she can access the drug Avastin on the English NHS to treat her ovarian cancer. 

The petition will be delivered to the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff at 1pm on Wednesday, ahead of a debate on the issue.

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Children's Mental Health Services A 'Disgrace'

Vulnerable young people are being put at risk because of "serious and deeply ingrained problems" in children's mental health services, MPs have warned.

The Health Select Committee report said there are "major problems" accessing inpatient mental health services, with families facing "battles" to have their children treated.

During the inquiry, MPs heard evidence from children who spent months on a waiting list for treatment, while some services admitted they were so overwhelmed that they treated a child only once they had seriously self-harmed.

Children as young as 12 were being held in police cells overnight because of a lack of out-of-hours services, while others were being admitted to mental health wards on the other side of the country, the report found.

Services in some parts of the country have reported up to a 25% increase in the amount of children and young people looking for help.

Dr Sarah Wollaston MP said cyber-bullying and sexting needs to be addressed

Dr Sarah Wollaston, chair of the committee, said the growing threat of sexting, cyber-bullying and graphic online content to children's mental health needs to be addressed.

She said: "Not only do we have a shortage of prevalence data but we have an issue around the data about the provision of services.

"It is a disgrace that we don't have provision data on children's mental health services.

"What we do have is information from all the people we've heard from that there has been an increase in referrals and new issues have arisen around the impact on children's mental health with new technology and the challenges around the online environment that children face, like cyberbullying and sexting."

The report said: "There are serious and deeply ingrained problems with the commissioning and provision of children's and adolescents' mental health services.

"These run through the whole system from prevention and early intervention through to inpatient services for the most vulnerable young people."

NHS England has said that 6% of the mental health budget is spent on children, despite half of all adult mental health problems starting before the age of 14.

The report called on the Government to invest in services, particularly early intervention measures.

Peter Liver, director of ChildLine, said: "These findings do not come as a surprise to us here at ChildLine. We have held over 34,000 counselling sessions with young people this year who have told us they have suicidal thoughts.

"Children are telling us they feel unable to ask for help from anyone else and we need to ensure they know they are not alone."

Norman Lamb, care and support minister, said a task force had been launched to improve services and a new waiting time standard would be introduced.

He said: "I strongly welcome this report, which will support our work and the work of the task force to make sure children and young people's services get the priority they deserve."

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Twin Babies Die After 999 Crew Kept Out Of Flats

A woman is in a coma and her premature twin baby girls have died after paramedics were prevented from getting into a block of flats in Birmingham.

Jocelyn Bennett, 27, was 32 weeks pregnant and dialled 999 after suffering severe stomach pains.

A paramedic arrived at Pleck House flats in Druids Heath along with two ambulance crews, but Ms Bennett was in such agony she was unable to buzz them into the building.

The crews tried the buzzers of all the other residents in the block, but they reportedly mistook them for police officers and refused to open the door.

It was only after police arrived, some 31 minutes after the first 999 call, that paramedics were able to get into the flat and begin treatment.

The two babies, Melody and Rose, had their life support machines switched off on Tuesday after a decision by their family.

Ms Bennett remains in a coma in hospital and is unaware of what has happened, her family told the Birmingham Mail. Her partner Kevin Clarke, 31, was not at home at the time.

She had suffered a placental abruption, resulting in the premature delivery of Melody. Rose was delivered by emergency caesarean in hospital.

Both babies suffered multiple organ failure and had been on life support since the incident last Wednesday. Ms Bennett suffered a cardiac arrest and severe blood loss.

Her father, Joe Bennett, told the Birmingham Mail: "They looked so perfect and when the ventilators were taken off their tiny bodies, I expected them to start moving.

"The vicar performed a lovely service and then the girls were held by Kevin for the last time.

"We left him with the twins so he could spend time with them on his own."

Mr Bennett said his daughter may have suffered brain damage after her heart stopped.

He also said that a previous police raid on the block meant residents there refused to answer their buzzers.

He told The Times: "If any residents see flashing blue lights they don't answer their calls because they fear it'll be another raid.

"No one answered their buzzers when the paramedics tried them."

Birmingham City Council (BCC), which owns the flats, said it had a system which allowed for emergency services access, and said an "urgent investigation" is now underway.

A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "Crews had difficulty getting into the building.

"They tried to contact all of the other flats within the block, all with no answer."

A spokesman for BCC said: "Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.

"We have systems to provide emergency access to our blocks for the emergency services and an urgent investigation was commissioned as soon as we were made aware of the matter.

"The ongoing investigation will involve all other agencies concerned."

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Gaddafi Good For Britain, Says UKIP's Reckless

Muammar Gaddafi was good for immigration control - and helped contain the number of North Africans heading for Britain, UKIP's Mark Reckless has said.

Mr Reckless said helping to remove the dictator from power had been one of David Cameron's biggest mistakes.

The former MP, who defected from the Conservative Party in September and hopes to give Mr Cameron a bloody nose at the Rochester by-election this month, said thousands of migrants were coming over from Libya by boat to Italy.

Migrants heading for the Italian island of Lampedusa

He said they were being "waved through Italy"  and then headed for Calais to cross the Channel for Britain.

Mr Reckless was speaking at a public meeting in Rochester, where UKIP is hoping to win its second seat in the House of Commons. The issue of immigration is becoming a key battleground of the General Election.

Video: Oct 12, 2013: Lampedusa Tragedy

He said: "Whatever people say about Gaddafi, one thing is he didn't allow those boats to come across.

"He had an agreement with Italy that stopped it. Since he's gone we've no idea what's going on in Libya, it's too dangerous for anyone to go there."

He said that since Gaddafi's regime had fallen the "bad guys" were being replaced by "even worse guys".

He added: "We bombed them, that's what we did. That's how this government helped Libya. It got rid of somebody, albeit an Arab nationalist dictator, who actually gave a level of stability to the area."

His comments come as a report by University College London found immigrants from outside the EU have cost the UK £118bn in the 17 years to 2011.

Last year 40,000 migrants, most from Syria, Eritrea and Somalia, crossed from the shores of North Africa to Europe, many in dangerous wooden boats.

In October last year 359 people were killed when a boat making the crossing sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Italy has asked for extra funding to help it deal with the influx and warned earlier this year that as many as 600,000 people were preparing to make the journey from North Africa.

The numbers crossing have increased significantly since the Middle East crisis unfolded and it is estimated around 20% of those coming from North Africa end up in Britain.

The Government was criticised last week for its decision to stop rescuing migrants who were pitched into the sea, saying it would help to deter those thinking of making the decision.

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Christmas Costs 'Falling' Amid Price War

A retail industry body has said Christmas shoppers look set to benefit this year as it charts falling shop prices, with food costs growing at their lowest level since at least 2006.

The British Retail Consortium's (BRC) shop price index for October, compiled by Nielsen, showed that the battle for customers between discounters and the major supermarket chains was providing benefits for consumers.

It measured falls in the price of kitchen essentials such as milk, cheese and eggs for the first time since February 2010.

The BRC said convenience food was also cheaper than it was a year ago.

Total food inflation stood at just 0.1% in October, the lowest rate since the index began in 2006, after three consecutive months at 0.3%.

Overall, shops reported deflation for the 18th-consecutive month, accelerating to an annual rate of 1.9% in October from 1.8% in September as key agricultural commodity costs fell further amid market concern about the world economy.

The report said that in addition to that, discounts on clothes and electrical goods also continued to have an impact.

BRC director general Helen Dickinson said: "With the current competitive environment, retailers are passing most of these savings on to consumers.

"This should mean great deals for shoppers as they start stocking up on seasonal fare.

"As Christmas swiftly approaches, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that budgets will go a little bit further this year."

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Flood Defences At Risk With Funding Squeeze

A lack of cash for flood defences is increasing the risk of serious problems in many areas if winter storms hit, a spending watchdog has warned.

The National Audit Office (NAO) says half of the country's flood defences - more than 1,300 schemes - are only being maintained to a "minimal level".

But the Government insists there has been a real-term increase in flood defence funding.

Somerset was particularly hard-hit by the winter floods

Whitehall made an extra £270m available following the winter storms last year, which saw widespread flooding during the wettest winter on record, including an additional £35m in each of the next two years for maintaining defences.

The NAO report said the additional money restored funding for maintaining defences to 2010-11 levels in cash terms.

Video: Feb 21: UK Flooding View From Above

But in real terms - adjusted for inflation - the report found it represented a 6% drop in spending for maintenance since the Tory-led coalition took office.

Without the extra cash from the Government following the winter floods, total funding for flood protection has fallen by 10% since 2010.

While the Environment Agency has improved efficiency, the increased risk of extreme weather events as a result of climate change means current budgets will be under pressure, the NAO said.

The winter storms flooded 7,700 homes and 3,200 commercial properties, as well as cutting off power to hundreds of thousands more households and flooding 49,000 hectares of agricultural land, with areas such as the Somerset Levels particularly badly hit.

Video: Flood-Hit Family Put Home On Stilts

Responding to the report, chairwoman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee Margaret Hodge, said: "I am deeply concerned that current levels of spending are not enough to maintain flood protection, with five million homes at risk of flooding and people's livelihoods in jeopardy.

"It is alarming that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has cut spending on flood protection by 10% between 2011-12 and 2014-15 and it had to react with an emergency bailout of £270m following the winter floods in 2013."

Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said: "The agency, as it recognises, will need to make difficult decisions about whether to continue maintaining assets in some areas or let them lapse, increasing in future both the risk of floods and the potential need for more expensive ad-hoc emergency solutions."

But Floods Minister Dan Rogerson said: "The NAO has drawn conclusions on funding based on inappropriate comparisons.

Video: Feb 11: Hammond Cornered On Floods

"We have invested £3.2bn in flood management and defences over the course of this parliament which is a real term increase and half a billion more than in the previous parliament.

"Not only are we spending more than ever before, but we are also ensuring that our investment strategy will deliver long-term value for money."

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Bankrupt David James Auctions Off Shirts

Bankrupt former England goalkeeper David James is being forced to auction off more than 150 signed shirts, shorts and match balls.

The 44-year-old was declared bankrupt despite earning around £20m during a football career that took in spells at Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham and Manchester City.

It has been reported that a costly divorce from wife Tanya in 2005 was one of the main reasons for his financial difficulties.

The lots due to be sold off at hilcoind.co.uk from 18 November include James' goalkeeper's jersey from England's 4-1 thrashing by Germany in the 2010 World Cup second round.

Also on sale is the dark blue top he wore as an unused substitute in England's 2006 World Cup quarter-final penalty shoot-out defeat to Portugal.

An England shirt from between 2005 and 2007, signed by teammates such as Wayne Rooney, is among the collection.

James' FA Cup final Portsmouth top is also available, as are signed shirts from his time at Liverpool during the 1990s and, inexplicably, Phil Neville's shirt from England's 2004 European Championship win against Switzerland.

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Funeral For 'All Round Legend' Jack Bruce

Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker have said goodbye to their former Cream bandmate Jack Bruce at a funeral full of music.

The stars were among mourners, who also included Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera and Procol Harum's Gary Brooker, who paid tribute to Bruce who died from liver disease 11 days ago.

The service for the Scottish-born bass player and singer was held at Golders Green Crematorium in north London.

Bruce, 71, was most famous for his role in the 1960s supergroup Cream, along with Baker and Clapton, who created enduring tracks such as White Room, Sunshine Of Your Love, I Feel Free and Badge.

The trio reformed for a series of shows in 2005, which included dates at the Royal Albert Hall.

The guests sang Morning Has Broken, the Beatles hit Strawberry Fields Forever and Bruce's track Theme For An Imaginary Western to honour the man who was described in the order of service as a "beloved husband, father, granddad and all round legend".

His friend and Cream lyricist Pete Brown shared reminiscences during the funeral, which also included contributions from Bruce's son Malcolm, daughters Natasha and Kyla, a poem written by another son Corin and a tribute from his wife Margrit.

One of the late musician's bass guitars was displayed prominently, flanked by floral displays shaped like the bass clef motif, which was also pictured on the front of the order of service.

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M&S Profits Up But Warm Autumn Hits Clothing

M&S has reported a 2.3% rise in half-year profits, but said its troubled clothing division was hit by an unseasonably warm September.

The retailer's latest results marked a 13th consecutive quarterly fall in underlying sales of general merchandise, which include clothing, while web sales fell more than 6% in the six-month period.

M&S said its margins improved in the first half, helping it drive underlying profits higher for the first time in four years to £268m, and it signalled that shoppers should not expect discounting ahead of Christmas by raising its non-food margin projections.

The food business, which has been growing steadily against a backdrop of struggles elsewhere, continued to impress in the 26 weeks to 27 September with sales up 3.6%.

M&S Simply Food stores are helping drive profitability

M&S said the success of its Simply Food stores meant it was planning to open 200 new outlets over the next three years.

The company insisted that it had turned around womenswear - with sales rising 1.3% over five months and improved customer feedback.

Video: Expert Opinion On M&S Website Woes

But it did not provide a six-month figure - choosing to omit September's sales because it was "an unseasonable month."

Nevertheless, Chief executive Marc Bolland told Sky News he was pleased by the performance, saying "style is back" and "wraps are in".

Mr Bolland, who took over in 2010, said the group was improving "step by step", but a new clothing team he set up in 2012 had so far failed to deliver a sustained increase in sales.

M&S estimated a 1.3% hit to clothing from "unseasonal conditions" in September - with the mild weather, also charted by rival Next, not helpful for shifting high-margin winter coats, knitwear and boots.

Mr Bolland has spent over £2.3bn to address decades of under-investment, overseeing the revamp of products, stores, a new website and marketing.

He said the disappointing internet sales figure was a consequence of the new website, which has cost M&S £150m.

Mr Bolland blamed a "massive change, moving to a new platform".

Shares in M&S, which were down almost a fifth over the past year ahead of today's results, rose 6.5% when trading began on the FTSE 100.

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British Troops Going Back To Iraq For IS Fight

Britain is sending troops back to Iraq to help local forces in the battle against Islamic State militants, the Defence Secretary has confirmed.

Michael Fallon said the UK was "stepping up" its military presence in the country, with its forces to offer further training to Iraqi soldiers and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

It comes after a "small specialist" team was sent to instruct Peshmerga in the northern city of Irbil last month.

Mr Fallon, who visited British army trainers teaching Peshmerga fighters how to use heavy machine guns given by Britain, insisted that no combat troops will be deployed to Iraq.

He said the latest move would see UK troops teaching Kurds infantry skills such as sharp-shooting and first aid, while more equipment will be provided.

The UK will also send advisory personnel to Iraqi headquarters.

There have been growing calls to provide more assistance to new Iraqi prime minister Haider al Abadi as his country's forces struggle to reclaim territory from IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in the north and west.

Britain took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein

Mr Fallon held talks in Baghdad with the PM and Iraqi security advisers, before flying north to Irbil to met the President of the Kurdistan regional government Masoud Barzani and prime minister Nechirvan Barzani.

"The need is now," he said.

Video: How Is Islamic State Funded?

"It's a very immediate challenge from ISIL. As they start to push ISIL back out of the villages and towns that ISIL have gone into they are going to need this kind of assistance with roadside bombs, particularly to counter the terror tactics that Isil have been using.

"So, we are looking very urgently now how we can get more training help to them in the next few weeks."

Asked about concerns of mission creep, he said: "This is a very limited mission.

"The Prime Minister's made it very, very clear we are not going to recommit combat troops to Iraq. We've been there, we've done that.

"What we are going to do is to help the new government of Iraq and its own army take the fight to Isil through the aircraft we have deployed in the sky, through intelligence gathering, and through specialist training."

British troops took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq that overthrew Saddam Hussein, and later took responsibility for Basra and the south of the country.

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