Postcode prescribing to persist warn MPs
pharmafile | January 20, 2009 | News story | |Â Â NHS, parÂ
The draft NHS Constitution will not help end the postcode lottery surrounding access to drugs, the Health Select Committee has warned.
The message came as part of an investigation by the committee of MPs into Lord Darzi's Next Stage Review, which proposes a new NHS Constitution to enshrine patient rights into the system.
But although a patient's 'right' to NICE-approved drugs and treatments will be established, PCTs will still make different decisions about whether to approve payment for some drugs, the report said.
The draft NHS Constitution is about to have its first reading in Parliament, and may well be amended by MPs, who fear either undue political pressure on NHS bodies or insufficient guarantees for patients, for example.
Despite the pessimism of the Health Select Committee, there are numerous initiatives in progress which should help reduce long-standing unacceptable variations in care.
One major component of this is the proposed speeding-up of the NICE decision-making process.
NICE is currently consulting on the plans, which would see it appraise most drugs within six months of their launch.
Margaret Edwards, chief executive of Yorkshire and the Humber PCT, told the Health Select Committee this would "dramatically help".
"Obviously one of the difficulties at the moment in terms of consistency is when PCTs have to make decisions about drugs that are awaiting NICE approval, so the sooner we can get that, obviously the less of those there will be."
Another reform which will help reduce inequities in care is the introduction of a new watchdog, the Care Quality Commission in April. Its chairman Baroness Young has already indicated that NHS trusts will be more closely monitored on their uptake of NICE guidance than at present.
Related Stories:
New watchdog warns on NICE adherence
Monday, January 19, 2009
PCTs will struggle with Next Stage reforms, say MPs
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Related Content
A community-first future: which pathways will get us there?
In the final Gateway to Local Adoption article of 2025, Visions4Health caught up with Julian …
The Pharma Files: with Dr Ewen Cameron, Chief Executive of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Pharmafile chats with Dr Ewen Cameron, Chief Executive of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, about …
Is this an Oppenheimer moment for the life sciences industry?
By Sabina Syed, Managing Director at Visions4Health In the history of science, few initiatives demonstrate …
