NHS England has issued the following statement in response to an article in the Independent today (Saturday 6 September), which claims the NHS ignored offers of therapy at a Czech proton clinic.

A Spokesperson from NHS England said:

“The NHS has secured adequate capacity in established high quality international proton beam treatment centres.  These have been carefully selected by expert British cancer doctors because they deliver the full package of care our patients need.

“We are always open to discussion and we have in fact had helpful discussions with this private clinic in the Czech Republic about the quality of services they provide – it is quite simply untrue and wrong to say we have ignored them.

“Any decisions made for future NHS patients will be made by NHS doctors on the basis of quality of care, not bargain prices.  We note that this particular clinic provides only proton beam therapy and is not a specialist wide ranging cancer centre.”