Breast cancer-hit former NHS chief causes outrage after she moves to England to get life-saving drugs she denied Welsh patients
A former Welsh NHS chief whose board denied cancer patients access to lifesaving drugs has caused outrage by moving to England to receive treatment for her own cancer. Mary Burrows, 58, who enjoyed a £200,000 salary before she controversially stepped down last year, left her home in Colwyn Bay in North Wales in April so she could access breast cancer drugs. The ex-chief executive of the scandal-hit Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales moved into her son’s home in East Dulwich, South London, after learning that she would not qualify for treatment in Wales. She was in charge of running Wales’s largest health board, where she implemented the Labour-run Cardiff administration’s policy by forcing patients seeking costly new treatments to make individual funding requests, which were frequently rejected. Her decision to access treatment in London sparked fury from campaigners who have seen countless people die after being refused drugs in Wales. Julie McGowan,...