WE have repeatedly highlighted the postcode lottery which exists at the heart of this country's health service because it is an issue which affects millions of people.

Why should one person receive life-extending drugs in one part of the country, while another is denied them because they are unlucky enough to live somewhere else?

While we acknowledge the enormous financial challenges facing the NHS, it simply cannot be right that our society allows such anomalies to continue.

Barbara Selby is a case in point. Barbara suffers from kidney cancer but is denied the drug Sutent because she lives in North Yorkshire. If she lived across the border in County Durham, she could be prescribed the drug.

Following a u-turn by health bosses, it was announced yesterday that every kidney cancer patient in the North-East region can now be treated with Sutent - but that does not include North Yorkshire.

It underlines the farce which has developed over the funding of vital drugs.

It also shows that the Government's drive towards giving people more choice when it comes to health services is missing the point.

It is not more choice people want, it is a health service which consistently meets patients' needs with the same level of care, irrespective of geographical location.

In the light of yesterday's u-turn by the North-East and Cumbria Cancer Drug Approval Group, we fervently believe that the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust has a moral duty to give Barbara Selby the chance to live.