More life-extending drugs for cancer and other terminal illnesses are to be made available on the NHS at the same time as the government abandons the rule that those who pay for such drugs privately have to pay for the whole of their NHS treatment.

In a U-turn from his stance earlier this year, Alan Johnson, the health secretary, announced on Tuesday that he was ending “what is seen by the majority of people as a cruel procedure” whereby patients who top up their NHS care in that way can lose the right to the rest of their NHS treatment.