Ocular Melanoma UK says NHS inaction is costing lives as patients left unable to access recommended cancer treatment

Monday 22 September 2025

Cancer patients in the UK are being denied access to a life-extending therapy, with some left fundraising tens of thousands of pounds privately – despite NICE recommending the treatment more than three years ago.

National charity Ocular Melanoma UK (OMUK) says urgent action is needed to allow access to chemosaturation therapy for patients with eye cancer that spreads to the liver.

Also known as percutaneous hepatic perfusion, the treatment delivers high-dose chemotherapy directly to the liver and is available at two leading centres – University Hospital Southampton and The Christie in Manchester.

It has been shown to control tumours in almost 90 per cent of patients whose ocular melanoma has spread to the organ.

In clinical studies, median survival increased to 15 months, with some patients living for years. Unlike standard chemotherapy, chemosaturation isolates the liver from the rest of the body during treatment, allowing larger doses to be given with fewer side effects.

Yet despite NICE recommending it in 2021, NHS England has not commissioned the service, leaving UK patients unable to receive it unless they can raise at least £40,000 per cycle privately. International patients are able to travel to the UK for treatment, but British patients are excluded.

For Jamie Scott, 49, from Telford, the delays have put vital treatment out of reach.  Her ocular melanoma has now spread to her liver. Although chemosaturation could still help, she can only access it by fundraising privately or if NHS England changes its position and recognises that the small number of people who currently need this treatment cannot wait.

“I have raised £6,000 towards chemosaturation, but with a minimum of three treatments costing £40,000 each, the mountain is enormous,” she said. “This is not a luxury. Without it, I am living on nothing more than hope and a prayer. To those in power, I feel invisible – like just a statistic, not a person whose life is on the line.”

Dr Neil Pearce, retired Associate Medical Director and Consultant Hepatobiliary Surgeon at University Hospital Southampton said:

“Chemosaturation is usually a well-tolerated procedure with comparatively short recovery times, giving patients the chance to return quickly to their lives and families.

“It is deeply unfair that patients in the UK cannot access it routinely on the NHS. Patients travel from across the globe, yet UK patients are left to self-fund, which is simply not an option for most.

“The disparity in access is indefensible and urgently needs to be addressed.”

Jo Gumbs, Chief Executive of Ocular Melanoma UK, added:

“NHS England’s failure to act is condemning patients with one of the least survivable cancers to fundraise for the only treatment proven to extend their lives. The system is broken. We are calling on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to intervene now – before more lives are needlessly lost.”

The warning comes as OMUK launches its annual OM October campaign to raise awareness of ocular melanoma, the most common eye cancer in adults. Around 600 people in the UK are diagnosed each year, and up to half go on to develop incurable secondary disease in the liver.

– Ends –