A woman with breast cancer will be able to get the life-saving treatment she needs after a dispute over paying for the drug was resolved.

Lesley Tipler is hoping to start a course of herceptin as soon as possible after her local primary care trust (PCT) agreed to pay the expected £30,000 cost.

Mrs Tipler, 52, had originally been told she would not be able to have the drug because it was not officially licensed by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) and health authorities had a duty to protect patient safety.

She has the HER2 strain of breast cancer, said to respond well to herceptin which can increase a patient's chance of survival by more than 50 per cent.

Herceptin is given to patients in the UK with advanced breast cancer but not to those in Mrs Tipler's position, although the drug is widely used in Europe and the US.

Mrs Tipler, from Polegate, who is married to Philip, 53, and has a daughter aged 22 and a son of 17, found herself caught up in a dispute between Eastbourne Downs PCT and the Sussex Cancer Centre at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

They could not agree who was responsible for payment.

All 15 PCTs in the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority area and the two cancer networks covering both counties agreed to reassess their policy towards prescribing the drug following growing calls from women across the region to have the chance of using it.

They agreed that in exceptional cases, when a patient is identified as HER2 positive and her oncologist believes there are substantial benefits in treatment, the relative benefits and risks will be discussed with her before the PCT agrees to release funding.

Mrs Tipler, who has already had gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy, said she was overwhelmed when she received a letter saying she could have the herceptin.

She said: "It was wonderful news and will really help to boost my chances of survival.

"I would like to thank all those who supported me and did what they could to help.

"It is a pity that we have to really push for something like this but I am so glad I did.

"I need to have a few more tests done but hopefully I'll be able to start the treatment soon.

"Now I can really focus my efforts on getting better."

Sarah Steele, from Worthing, learned just before Christmas about the PCTs' change of direction.

Mrs Steele, 42, a mother of seven, is about to undergo radiotherapy and this should be followed shortly afterwards by a course of herceptin.