More money is needed to care for patients with cancer.

Editor—The redistribution of NHS funding to primary care is causing severe problems in cancer units and centres. Members of clinical directorates and regional cancer centres are seeing rapidly increasing numbers of patients, often while coping with reduced budgets. The main target for budget reductions is often the money spent on cytotoxic chemotherapy. Potent but expensive new cytotoxic agents, which are generally agreed to be effective, are available. As a result of recent contract negotiations their use has in effect not been …