A retired company chairman from Kingston has been asked by the NHS to pay a £55,000 lump sum because he paid privately to top up his cancer care with life-prolonging drugs.

Jonathan Chapple, 69, from Warren Road, has been told by specialists that he could extend his life with drugs Avastin or Erbitux.

But his oncologist at the Royal Marsden told him that he would have to be moved to a private wing of the hospital and could not continue to receive NHS care while paying for the drugs.

The case is just one of many where patients are being penalised for 'co-payments'.

Mr Chapple told the Sunday Times: "Having paid all my life for NHS services, to be put in this position feels immoral."

The Royal Marsden said: "In line with all private service providers, we do ask for a deposit upfront and this is judged on the individual patient and their treatment pathway."

For more on this story see Wednesday's Surrey Comet.