Patients and consumers
Ring-fencing is defined as protecting funds for use in a specific area. In the National Health Service in the UK, various methods to ring-fence cancer have been employed over the years; more recently the Cancer Drugs Fund in England has enabled cancer drugs that would not normally be considered cost-effective to be provided to patients. This has created variation in provision between England and the devolved countries. While some would argue that ring-fencing allows major advances to be made in the treatment of a particular condition, others would argue that it is intrinsically unfair.