We are pleased to hear that the campaign against the so-called NHS postcode lottery is continuing in earnest.

It is grossly unfair that patients in some parts of the country receive life-saving and life-extending drugs, while others elsewhere have no chance.

In its far-reaching plans for the health service announced last week, the Government signalled the beginning of the end of this unjust policy.

However, there was one missing ingredient - who is going to foot the bill?

We must keep up pressure on ministers to answer this crucial question.

We are talking here of exceptionally expensive drugs, the cost of which is likely to cause shock waves to NHS finances.

Answers are particularly important in Oxfordshire because our country has been labelled the worst for denying patients the cancer drug, Sunitinib.

Campaigner Kate Spall is planning to mount a legal challenge against Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to test whether its policy is legal.

According to her, 80 PCTs out of 152 are willing to offer the drug to patients, and she says there is growing evidence that it could be a life-saving drug, not merely a life-extending one.

Everyone in the county, particularly families that have been affected and those likely to be in the future, will await the outcome of the legal discussions with interest.

There is no doubt that Oxfordshire PCT has been particularly harsh, allowing only one patient Sunitinib and refusing 20 others.

The NHS has been celebrating its 60th anniversary in the past week, but despite all the excellent work being done, there are still criticisms.

The policy on issuing Sunitinib and other vital drugs is one of them.