Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust has been accused by campaigners of "moving the goalposts" after delaying its decision on whether cancer victim Stephen Dallison can have a life-prolonging drug.

Although the 33-year-old scientist, of Iffley Road, Oxford, has terminal kidney cancer, the Trust has put off its decision until mid December.

Mr Dallison launched an appeal in October after PCT managers refused his request for the £2,500-a-month medicine, saying his clinical circumstances are "not exceptional".

At a hearing last week the case was referred back to the Treatment Review Panel, whose members made the original decision and now want advice from an independent expert.

Mr Dallison's GP Dr Tia McGregor said: "Stephen hasn't got time for this. It's been going on since October and we're not getting anywhere nearer to a solution. The sooner he starts treatment the better."

Kate Spall, of the Pamela Northcott Fund, is supporting Mr Dallison's appeal and has written to PCT chief executive Andrea Young to complain.

She said: "I'm so furious. They cancelled the hearing because they want extra information from an expert oncologist. There is nothing an expert oncologist can come up with that we have not already provided.

"They are constantly moving the goalposts. This will be their fifth meeting about Stephen and they're coming up with more and more problems."

Mr Dallison has been given 12 to 18 months to live without treatment. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in July and despite an operation, the illness returned and spread to his lymph glands.

Doctors at the Churchill Hospital in Headington want to give him Sunitinib, which stops cancer spreading and cuts off blood supply to tumours. It is licensed for use in the UK, but the National Institute for Clinical Excellence - which decides what drugs the NHS can use - is not due to rule on it until 2009.

As a result, PCTs are not obliged to offer it.

In a statement, the PCT said: "The case review committee was postponed from November 28 to December 12, because it was not possible to obtain all the information required for a decision to be made on the earlier date."