There are very few proven treatments for cancer which are not available in the UK. But there are very occasional special cases where treatment abroad might be considered. The UK Government has slightly different regulations regarding these, depending on whether the treatment is in a country within the European Economic Area (EEA) or elsewhere, including North America.

The process for getting treatments in countries like the USA, which are outside the EEA, can be summarised as follows:

• the consultant in charge of your care must agree that the treatment is necessary (this must be the consultant who is the specialist most closely connected with the type of treatment you are seeking - for example, if you are looking to have chemotherapy then it would need to be a specialist in chemotherapy treatment rather than, say, a surgeon).
• the consultant then has to make a strong case to the local Health Authority (HA) as to why the treatment is necessary and why it cannot be given in this country. This case has to be what is called 'evidence -based'. This means that there has to be clear evidence that the treatment is of proven value. This means that any experimental or trial treatments could not be considered.
• if the HA agrees to the request then it has to apply to the International Branch at the Department of Health where the case for treatment would be reconsidered. The regulations regarding this set down some clear conditions which have to be met. These are: i) the condition to be treated must be of a 'serious nature' ii). suitable treatment is not available in the UK or elsewhere in the EEA iii). the treatment is well established and not experimental iv. there is a probability of a significant benefit from the treatment n if the Department of Health is satisfied that these conditions have been met it will usually give approval to the HA to fund the treatment. But that approval is usually only for the treatment itself and does not include things like travel and accommodation costs.

It is important to stress, however, that there would be very few cancer treatments that might be considered in this way, since almost all the treatments of proven value are available in the UK.