Alliance MP Sorcha Eastwood has urged the Department of Health to ensure patients in Northern Ireland can access Enhertu, a breast cancer drug now available in England.

The treatment, approved for NHS use in England from 17 September, is for people with a specific type of incurable breast cancer. Clinical evidence indicates it can extend life by an average of almost seven months, and in some cases longer.

Enhertu has been available in Scotland since 2023, but is not yet accessible to patients in Northern Ireland without action by the Department of Health.

Eastwood said cancer patients in Northern Ireland are often left behind when it comes to new drugs and treatments. She described the situation with Enhertu as the latest example in a long list of such disparities.

She wrote to Health Minister Robbie Butler requesting an urgent timetable for making the treatment available. Eastwood said no one should face a postcode lottery of cancer care across the UK due to economic or administrative barriers.

The MP said the drug can give people with incurable breast cancer precious extra time with loved ones, and that equitable access should be a priority.