Dementia patients in Oxfordshire are suffering a 'postcode prescribing lottery' because NHS managers will not spend money on drugs to slow their illness.
New research published today revealed that Thames Valley Health Authority, which covers Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, has one of the worst records for using anti-Alzheimer's medication.
The area spends the eighth smallest amount out of the UK's 51 health authorities, spending five times less on the prescription drugs than some other areas.
The research has angered members of Alzheimer's help groups, who believe the disease is often ignored by the NHS.
But Thames Valley Health Authority said the final decision to prescribe the medication was made by primary care trusts.
Alzheimer's is a degenerative condition of the brain which leads to dementia. Although there is no cure, three drugs - donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine - can slow the disease's progress.
They have all been approved for use by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which decides which treatments should be used by the NHS.
Statisticians Toby Gosden and Chris Baker, who work for pharmaceutical firm Pfizer divided the total amount budgeted for anti-Alzheimer drugs in each area for 2002 to 2003 by the number of people over 65 in that region.
In Thames Valley there are 311,000 over 65s, and £485,000 was budgeted for the medication, compared to Northern Ireland's Southern and Social Services Board which has a population of 36,282 and spent £299,689 on the drugs.
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