A man with incurable cancer had to travel to Denmark to get a life-prolonging drug he has been refused by the NHS.

Richard Ramsey, from Stanley Road in East Oxford, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2004 and given initial treatment called Interferon, to boost his immune system, at the city's Churchill Hospital.

But in 2006 the Oxford Brookes law lecturer was told his cancer was incurable and little more could be done after it had spread to his lungs and leg.

Mr Ramsey refused to let the illness get the better of him as he continued working and began looking for other treatments.

But he has had to go to Denmark to get free treatment of Nexavar - also known as Sorafenib - a life-prolonging drug which Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust will not fund on the NHS but which the Danish government has given him.

He said: "My wife was livid - she couldn't believe the attitude of the people that were dealing with my health. She's from Denmark and kept urging me to try the health system there.

"I decided to do so last year and the attitude was so different. In Denmark I was given a feeling of This is what we can do for you'. In England it was very much Well, we've done all we can for you'. Basically, I felt as if I was being told to go away and drop dead."

The Danish government has paid for Mr Ramsey's £2,500 monthly dose of Nexavar since September, because his wife Merete is from Denmark.

He said Oxfordshire PCT told him it would not fund the drug because he is not an "exceptional case".

Mr Ramsey goes to Denmark every six weeks and will go for the sixth time at Easter.

He said: "It's not really the cost that bothers me, as the trips only cost about £100 a time, but the travel can be very tiring.

"The reaction I've had to Nexavar has so far been very positive. The lesions I have are diminishing and the cancer seems to be under control.

"But this is shocking. It seems to me the PCT is digging its heels in over unacceptable grounds. This isn't some wild, one-off treatment. It's licensed.

"They don't have enough money and are telling me I'm not worth the little they do have.

"I just think it is outrageous that a health system I've been paying into my whole working life has given up on me, but a country I've only been recently linked with is doing everything within their power to prolong my life."

A PCT spokesman said it was unable to comment on individual cases.

But in a statement she said: "Sorafenib is a licensed drug which means tests have shown it may have some efficacy and it has passed basic safety tests. The licensing process does not, however, compare it with other treatments for the same condition.

"Oxfordshire PCT does not routinely provide funding for Sorafenib.

"However, where a clinician believes a drug may be beneficial for an individual patient, a request for funding may be made through the PCT's Treatment Request Panel.

"Sorafenib is a new drug and there's insufficient evidence available on its effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and long-term safety."

A spokesman for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which decides which drugs should be used by the NHS, said no national policy had been confirmed for Sorafenib, allowing individual trusts to take their own decisions.