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NHS supports a US company clinical trial of an untested method of finding cancer cells! NHS medical records are being accessed by US private healthcare companies whilst some 140,000 NHS patients across the UK are being used as Guinea pigs by US Company Grail in a study of their Gallari blood test they claim can find 50 types of cancer cells early; despite it never being given a licence by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a legitimate fact based method of finding undiagnosed cancers.
Calderdale and Kirklees 999 Call For The NHS campaign group, provides further background detail: According to Sir Harpal Kumar (a McKinsey alumnus and former bigwig at Cancer Research UK and the Papworth Trust) who was appointed President of GRAIL Europe in 2020: “We’re delighted to partner with the NHS to support the NHS Long Term Plan for earlier cancer diagnosis, and we are eager to bring our technology to people in the UK as quickly as we can.” But according to the Galleri website, Grail’s cancer test has not been cleared or approved in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration. The website describes the “NHS-Galleri trial” as “a validation study of Galleri’s clinical and economic performance”. 140,000 middle aged NHS patients are taking part in the trial, which is being run by Cancer Research UK and King’s College London Cancer Prevention Trials Unit, in partnership with NHS England and GRAIL, with the support of eight NHS Cancer Alliances across England. Unionsafety believes that none of the patients involved understand fully about their medical records being stored in the USA for some 20 years and the commercial use of them that the US allows! The NHS website states only that those agreeing to the trial, must consent to their medical records being transferred to Grail in the US. But, to what extent are patients reading the NHS website trial details and terms, after receiving a letter of invitation to the trial by their local hospital or GP practice?
In November when the 'trial' in the UK began, NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard was reported by the Evening Standard as saying: “This quick and simple blood test could mark the beginning of a revolution in cancer detection and treatment here and around the world. By finding cancer before signs and symptoms even appear, we have the best chance of treating it and we can give people the best possible chance of survival." She added: “The NHS has a successful track record of leading the way on innovations in cancer diagnosis and treatment, The Galleri blood test, if successful, could play a major part in achieving our NHS Long Term Plan ambition to catch three-quarters of cancers at an early stage, when they are easier to treat.” But claims in the Standard that, ' The test has been found to be particularly effective at finding cancers that can be difficult to identify early – such as head and neck, bowel, lung, pancreatic, and throat cancers.', have not been determined because the FDA are yet to licence the test for use and the only thing going on here is a 'trial' and not a definitive test being used by the NHS. This case is a perfect example of how the Government through NHS England is funding the use of private US healthcare companies, rather than the NHS itself via our taxes and furthermore, the NHHS budget will become even further stretched as private healthcare companies are awarded increasing contracts to replace NHS provided services; all with a 10% margin for profit by the likes of Certene, Virgincare, Circle Health, and United Health in the UK. Yet, the NHS has been told it has to save a further £500m this year by NHS England! Further background detail on how the Government are putting money into life-sciences and US healthcare companies can be read here: https://bit.ly/3uuTFCc Source: 999 NHS / Evening Standard / HSJ |
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The UK government is rapidly extending the privatisation of NHS diagnostics numerous diseases and conditions, reports anti-NHS Privatisation pressure group; Calderdale and Kirklees 999 Call For NHS.
Furthermore, as Grail is being taken over by Illumina in the US, those medical records will then be accessible to their researchers – free and without your consent!