WOMEN with early stage breast cancer are to be tested to see if they are suitable for treatment with a new life-saving drug.

The Government decision was welcomed by Barbara Clark, a nurse who won a fight with her local authority to be prescribed Herceptin.

It means 1,000 women a year in England could be saved, at an annual cost of £100m - the same number saved by the national breast screening programme, said the Department of Health (DoH).

But women who have been diagnosed before today will not be automatically tested for the HER2 receptor, which indicates whether a patient may benefit from Herceptin, the DoH said.

Herceptin is controversial because many women are unable to access the drug. Currently, it is only licensed for use in advanced breast cancer, although doctors can use their discretion to prescribe it in other exceptional cases.

An application for a licence for its use in early breast cancer is expected to be submitted by maker Roche next February.

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said that from yesterday all women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer would be tested for suitability for treatment with Herceptin.

This means that once the drug receives its licence, it will be fast-tracked for use throughout the NHS and could be available to patients next summer.

Speaking from her home in Bridgwater, Somerset, Ms Clark, 49, welcomed the Government's decision.

She said: "This is absolutely fantastic news, I think it's marvellous as this will mean the drug will be fast-tracked and it will offer a lifeline to many women suffering with breast cancer.

"But the drug is already widely available to women throughout Europe in countries like Ireland without licence.

"It's unacceptable that Herceptin is not considered safe here in this country when it's available throughout the rest of the world.

"Although today's decision is to be welcomed, what about the women in between?," she said.

Barry Ogleby from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, who fought his own battle to persuade the NHS to fund treatment for his partner, Eileen Quigley, five years ago, was scathing in his criticism of the Government.

"It is discriminatory against those who have already been diagnosed. It is absolutely disgraceful. Herceptin should be used immediately as a first-line treatment before it spreads," said Mr Ogleby.

When the NHS eventually agreed to pay for Ms Quigley's treatment in June 2001 she responded well but by then the cancer had spread through her body and she died in August that year.

The DoH said that of the 35,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer in England each year, 20,000 would be suitable for testing for HER2 - a specific receptor on the surface of the cancer cells whose presence means the patient may benefit from Herceptin.

From this group of 20,000, about 5,000 women may benefit from the drug.

* Eight out of ten women have not checked their breasts for signs of cancer in the past month, research shows today.

The poll of more than 1,000 women found that 80 per cent had not looked for symptoms such as lumps and changes in size and shape in the past month.

And 52 per cent said they had not even spared a thought for their breasts in any sense during an average day, according to the research released during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The British Boob Survey, commissioned by charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, came as the charity launched an education campaign to dispel confusion about breast awareness.

With the message Show Your Breasts Some TLC: Touch, Look, Check, the campaign is urging women to touch their breasts to feel for anything unusual, look for changes in shape and texture and check anything unusual with a doctor.

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