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Chronicle campaign hits a nerve

Bath Chronicle deputy editor John McCready says the newspaper’s NHS Postcode Lottery campaign has touched a nerve among readers.

Many people have come forward to tell the newspaper of their, or their relatives’, experiences of inequalities in NHS treatment.

A main focus of the newspaper’s campaign has been the case of former champion swimmer Stephanie Millward.

The 18-year-old’s hopes of representing her country in the Olympics were dashed when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Then, she discovered that she could not obtain the drug beta interfeon, which can relieve some of her symptoms, because Wiltshire Health Authority does not fund it. But, if she lived just a few miles down the road in the Avon Health Authority area, she could be eligible to receive the drug.

Support for Stephanie’s case, and the newspaper’s campaign, has come from a host of local MPs as well as locally-based actor Clive Mantle – familiar to millions as fictional Dr Mike Barrett in TV dramas Casualty and Holby City. The actor is pictured below with Stephanie.


Photograph courtesy of Bath Chronicle, taken by deputy chief photographer Jon Mills

Stephanie protested outside a meeting of Wiltshire Health Authority this week, and the newspaper was there to photograph her gathering support from local people.

Deputy news editor Phil Chamberlain said: “We intend to back Stephanie in whatever she wants to do.”

He said there had been a good response to Stephanie’s story and the paper had splashed Wednesday’s edition with a story of a couple who could not get IVF treatment on the NHS.

Mr Chamberlain said: “Ironically, their situation is the reverse of Stephanie’s. They can’t get NHS treatment in the Avon Health Authority area, but they could if they lived on Wiltshire Health Authority’s patch.

Wiltshire Health Authority is due to discuss its policy on funding a number of drugs – including beta interferon – in the near future.

Mr McCready said: “If Stephanie gets no joy, we are planning to take our Chronicle bus on the road to collect names for a petition, which we will then take to Downing Street.”

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