A PENSIONER from Selby says he may launch a claim against health bosses for the £30,000 he has spent on his wife’s care after she was refused a drug on the NHS.

Reg Wilkinson, 74, said he believed his wife, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, would have a better quality of life if NHS North Yorkshire and York had not refused her the drug Duodopa, in 2008.

The decision came despite it being prescribed in individual cases in other authorities in the UK.

Mr Wilkinson said his wife was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1995 and, in 2002, began treating the condition with the drug Apomorphine. However, a violent reaction to the drug in 2007 led to Mrs Wilkinson’s doctor suggesting the drug Duodopa – which was subsequently refused by the NHS trust.

The drug was due to be considered last month by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) as part of its review of guidelines for the treatment of Parkinson’s, meaning it could be recommended for funding by the NHS.

But Mr Wilkinson believes it may be too late for his wife.

He said: “In the five years we were using Apomorphine we had a good quality of life. It’s very frustrating that other PCTs (primary care trusts) have been funding this (Duodopa), and I think if she had had this treatment two-and-a-half years ago she would be a different person now.”

Mr Wilkinson’s wife, whom he asked The Press not to name, is now in a Selby care home, after it became too difficult for her husband to look after her at home.

The Press has seen a copy of a letter sent to Mrs Wilkinson’s neurosurgeon in 2008, on behalf of the PCT’s Individual Case Panel, saying “the PCT would not support funding either in primary or secondary care”.

Mr Wilkinson said: “If NICE change their advice I am going to claim for all the money I have had to spend on care for my wife.” He estimated the cost to be at least £30,000.

Yesterday, Dr David Geddes, clinical director of NHS North Yorkshire and York, said Duodopa was not routinely commissioned by the trust. “In the absence of specific guidance from NICE we looked to guidance from the Scottish Medicines Consortium which, in 2006, said that Duodopa is not recommended for advanced Parkinson’s disease,” he said “It is also worth saying that Duodopa is not a cure for Parkinson’s, and the evidence shows it only has limited benefit for managing some of the symptoms associated with this disease.”