Ontelly

Panorama - The NHS Postcode Lottery: It Could Be You

Logo for Panorama - The NHS Postcode Lottery: It Could Be You

Thirty-four-year-old Naomi has bowel cancer but has been refused life-prolonging medication because she lives in the wrong part of Manchester. Two Birmingham pensioners suffering from a degenerative eye condition share the same hospital consultant, but only one gets the drug to stop her losing her sight. Best-selling author Terry Pratchett tells Panorama how he was forced to source and pay for his own Alzheimer's medicine after being denied it on the NHS. It's supposed to be the National Health Service, free at the point of need. But, as Shelley Jofre discovers on a road trip around the UK, the treatment you get still very much depends on where you live.