AVASTIN is just one of a number of medicines you may receive on the NHS –if you live in the right location.

For a drug to be widely available through the NHS it has to have been given the green light by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

If it is not, then even if the drug has been proven to be a safe and effective treatment, patients cannot get it free unless they are granted exceptional funding.

Stoke-on-Trent PCT says it has approved the drug in 10 cases this year.

A spokesman for Central and Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust said: "We do fund Avastin but it depends on individual cases."

A spokesman for NHS North Staffordshire said the PCT is legally required to commission in line with NICE guidance but will consider requests on an exceptional basis through its individual funding policy.

The postcode lottery spreads far and wide. In 2007, the case of Colette Mills hit the headlines. The former nurse who has battled breast cancer for more than 25 years was left devastated when she was told she could not have Avastin.

Mother-of-two Mrs Mills was denied the drug by North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust. The 59-year-old was then told she would not be able to receive NHS treatment if she chose to buy the drug herself.

Mrs Mills said: "By the time the PCT finished making their minds up the cancer had run away with me. My advice to Vilma would be to battle the PCT all the way and keep fighting until she gets what she wants."