Government to review co-payment rules
pharmafile | June 18, 2008 | News story | |Â Â Â
The government is set to review its policy on 'co-payment' for medicines, which could enable patients to contribute towards the cost of NHS treatment.
Currently, if a patient opts to pay privately for a drug the NHS won't fund, they can lose the right to receive the rest of their care on the health service.
But the government is now under-pressure to allow patients to pay for some of the more expensive medicines, often cancer treatments, and share the cost of treatment.
Health secretary Alan Johnson told parliament the government's review will consider "the importance of enabling patients to have choice and personal control over their healthcare".
But a move toward co-payment or top-ups is at odds with a fundamental principle of the NHS – that it is free at the point of need and delivery – and tampering with it will raise questions about the future direction of the health service.
Johnson said this was a concern of the government, and stressed "the need to uphold the founding principle of the NHS that treatment is based on clinical need not ability to pay, and to ensure that NHS services are fair to both patients and taxpayers".
His move has been largely welcomed by MPs and is supported by the NHS Confederation, which represents the NHS managers who control spending on medicines.
NHS Confederation policy director Nigel Edwards said: "The impasse on top-ups was clearly unsustainable and threatened to undermine public confidence in the NHS. We welcome therefore the government's decision to review its policy."
He acknowledged the complexity of the issue, but added that a solution was needed that recognises the wish of an individual to spend money as they see fit while safeguarding the principles of the NHS.
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