RED tape could force a cancer patient to pay for life-saving treatment - for a second time.

Businessman Bob Norburn was forced to pay more than £8,000 for cryotherapy to treat his prostate cancer last year, but was eventually reimbursed by Bolton's Primary Care Trust.

Now, the cancer has returned and he must go back to the hospital in Sunderland where the pioneering treatment is carried out - but could be forced to pay again after a meeting of the borough's health bosses has been held up because of missing paperwork.

Mr Norburn was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in May 2004 and underwent cryotherapy - which destroys cancer cells by freezing them.

Mr Norburn said: "I cannot believe this has happened again. I simply don't have the time to wait for their bureaucracy to be dealt with. It's cancer I should be fighting and not for my right to treatment.

"I will have to pay for my own treatment again, because there's no way I can cancel it. This isn't a hair appointment to be cancelled, it's my chance at life."

PCT chiefs claim they are waiting for paperwork to be sent to them from the Christie Hospital in Manchester and the hospital in Sunderland before they can make a decision about funding the cryotherapy.

The Commissioning Panel was due to meet on November 16, but because of the delay the meeting has been put back to December 14 - eight days after Mr Norburn's treatment is due to start.

Mr Norburn said: "Surely the human thing would be to say go ahead and have the treatment and we'll sort out the paperwork later'. Surely the patient is more important than the paperwork."

The 57-year-old from Farleigh Close, Westhoughton, discovered the cancer had returned in May. He was referred to Christie's, but told there was nothing that could be done for him at the hospital.

Mr Norburn decided to opt for more treatment at the hospital in Sunderland and has been waiting for a decision as to whether the PCT will funded the cryotherapy ever since.

A spokesman for Bolton PCT said: "Part of the Primary Care Trust role is to make difficult decisions about healthcare resources for both the Bolton population as a whole and, occasionally, for individual patients. It cannot make these decisions fairly and safely without appropriate information.

"This is not a matter of paperwork and bureaucracy, but of making sure that crucial decisions affecting individual patients' lives are made properly and with all the available information. In the case of Mr Norburn, the PCT will continue to seek the necessary information about his case so that a decision can be made as soon as possible, as we understand the anxiety any further delay will cause for him."

A spokesman for City Hospitals Sunderland said: "Mr Norburn is still a patient of ours and we are obviously in touch with all parties on the subject of his care - it is inappropriate to provide further details of his case at this stage, but we can assure him, that, as with all our patients, his care is a priority and any issues relating to it will be resolved as a matter of urgency."

A spokesman for Christie said: "Bolton PCT has been sent all the information they require from the Christie Hospital. We hope that a decision can be made as soon as possible about Mr Norburn."

After his first treatment, the PCT finally paid him his money because of poor communications in his case. He was given the £8,417 cost by the trust three months after the treatment.