A CANCER patient from Usk met with the Prime Minister today and presented a petition of nearly 100,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street calling for equal access to cancer treatments in Wales.

Ann Wilkinson and fellow supporters from the One Voice for Wales campaign handed over the petition to the UK Government alongside Monmouth MP David Davies.

The Argus previously reported how the same petition was delivered to Welsh Assembly Members on the steps of the Senedd in Cardiff Bay earlier this month.

The petition calling for a cancer drugs fund for Wales was started by Julie McGowan, of Usk, in the summer after her friend Mrs Wilkinson, who has bowel cancer, was refused the potentially life-prolonging drug Avastin.

Mrs McGowan said: ""We are very grateful to the Prime Minister for listening and to our MP David Davies for arranging this."

Outside the gates to Downing Street, a number of Welsh patients gathered to support the petition. Some had been forced to move to England to get treatment that is not available in Wales.

Addressing the campaigners, David Davies MP said "fighting for our Welsh NHS" remained one of his top priorities.

"It is appalling that in Wales we have longer waiting lists, worse ambulance response times and no access to a cancer drugs fund," he added.

"As chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee, I am conducting an inquiry into the differences in cross-border healthcare. I can assure you that this campaign will continue until our NHS offers Welsh patients the same standards as English patients."

The Argus reported how around 50 campaigners gathered outside the Senedd earlier this month, ahead of a Welsh Conservatives-sponsored debate on the issue of a Cancer Drugs Fund for Wales, to highlight the issue of patients being denied access to cancer drugs in Wales that others in England are receiving.

Mrs Wilkinson has received a privately funded course of Avastin and another subsequently approved by Aneurin Bevan University Health Board following reconsideration of the initial application for the treatment.

Health Minister Mark Drakeford remained steadfast in his belief during the debate that a Cancer Drugs Fund for Wales would create rather than solve health inequalities, as money for treatments for other diseases would have to be diverted to support it.

He called the idea "ethically dubious" and one that "undermines the underlying principle that all lives are of equal value."

He also reiterated that more money was spent per head on cancer care last year in Wales than in England.