A PATIENT at Basingstoke hospital is being denied a new "miracle" drug because she has become a victim of the NHS postcode lottery.

Mrs Jan Digby, 58, suffers from painful rheumatoid arthritis in all her joints. Her rheumatologist, Dr Peter Prouse, has told her she would benefit from the new anti-TNF drug since it would reduce the pain and improve her mobility.

But bosses at the North and Mid Hants Health Authority have refused to authorise use of the drug. It costs between £6,000 and £8,000 a year per patient.

Bosses in the neighbouring Berkshire Health Authority, who have also not yet authorised use of the drug, have estimated it would cost them £1 million in the first year, possibly rising to £2 million in the second.

Both health authorities say they will not make a decision on anti-TNF until the National Institute for Clinical Excellence has completed its research on the benefits of the drug and made recommendations. This is expected in October.

Mrs Digby - a self-management trainer for Arthritis Care covering an area from Oxfordshire to the Isle of Wight - said: "I have been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for 18 years. I have it in all the major joints of my body but my hands, feet and knees are particularly bad. I have a fair amount of pain.

"My doctor has said he would like to give me anti-TNF but he cannot. At present, just under half the health authorities in the country provide the drug.

"It's a postcode lottery whether you get the treatment or not. It should not be like that." Mrs Digby, from Alresford, added: "I know of one woman in Surrey who has been given the drug and it has worked miracles for her.

"This lack of funding for anti-TNF has been kept very quiet. The trouble is arthritis is not a glamour disease - it's not an instant killer. If anti-TNF was a cure for cancer it would be in all the papers. Arthritis is not a headline-grabbing disease.

"I don't know if that is because it is perceived as an older person's condition. Seven million older people suffer from it. But there are more than a million sufferers under 45 and 12,500 are children.

"Only a small proportion of those are rheumatoid arthritis sufferers but if anti-TNF could improve their quality of life, they should be given it.

"It is expensive and maybe it will have to be rationed. But, at present, the health authorities are just hiding behind the NICE tests to delay a decision."

A spokesman for North and Mid-Hants Health Authority said: "It would be inadvisable for a health authority to make a policy decision on this without being in possession of all the facts.

"We are carefully monitoring the position regarding anti-TNF and have set aside funding to pay for it if NICE recommends its use."

A spokesman for Arthritis Research told The Gazette: "The drug doesn't exactly work miracles but it can greatly improve the quality of life of some rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

"There have been examples of previously wheelchair-bound people being able to walk.

"It is expensive - between £6,000 and £8,000 a year - but if a person has to spend long periods in hospital without the drug, that cancels out the cost.

"Health authorities are allowed to issue the drug without NICE guidance and a number are using anti-TNF."