For info, here’s a summary of the Government’s announcement from the Department of Health website - dh.gov.uk/en/News/Recentstories/DH_089999:
"More drugs are to be made available to NHS patients, particularly for those facing a terminal illness, announces Health Secretary Alan Johnson. A landmark report, published by National Cancer Director Professor Mike Richards, Improving access to medicines for NHS patients, recommends a package of measures to substantially widen access to drugs on the NHS and reduce the need for patients to resort to private treatment. The Health Secretary also announced that, from today, the NHS should not withdraw treatment from the few patients who may still choose to pay privately for additional drugs. But he made clear that while private care can be carried out alongside NHS care, private treatment should take place in a private facility and must not be subsidised by the NHS.
New proposals by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) also published today, set out a new system for appraising expensive drugs designed to help those with severe illness. At the same time, NICE will work with the Department to speed up the appraisal process, so that patients have faster and more consistent access to new therapies.
The package of measures includes:
– supporting NICE’s proposal for greater flexibility in appraising more expensive drugs for terminally ill patients
– working closely with the pharmaceutical industry to agree new and more flexible pricing arrangements to increase access to new drugs - these will include lower initial prices, with the option of higher prices if value is proven at a later date, and patient access schemes
– speeding up the NICE appraisal process for new drugs so that they become available to patients more quickly
– improving quality and consistency of local decisions by setting out core principles to guide primary care trusts on the funding of new drugs, where there is no NICE guidance in place
– publishing today a consultation on revised guidance for trusts for those rare cases where patients purchase additional private care.
Alan Johnson said: ‘The measures I have set out, together with the improvements proposed by NICE, mean that a greater range of more expensive therapies will be available to more patients on the NHS - reducing the need for them to seek private care. A small number of patients may still choose to pay for additional drugs not available on the NHS. But I have agreed that, from today, NHS care must never be withdrawn in these cases - as long as private treatment takes place in a private facility. This issue was causing distress to patients and their relatives – and none of us wanted that uncertainty and inconsistency to continue. Patients and the public can be confident that from today there will be greater clarity, greater fairness and, most importantly, greater access to a wider range of drugs.’
Today’s measures build on the principles already enshrined in the NHS Constitution – which include the right of all NHS patients to access NICE approved drugs or treatments if their doctor recommends them as clinically appropriate."
And you can access Mike Richards’ full report - Improving access to medicines for NHS patients: a report for the Secretary of State for Health by Professor Mike Richards - on that webpage.
And yes, Debs – the key will be NICE becoming faster & more co-ordinated – hope it happens soon for all of us.
Marilyn x