Government announces drug policy
Released 05/11/2008
NHS will not withdraw treatment for patients who pay for additional drugs
Patients who pay for additional drugs will not have their NHS care withdrawn, according to Health Secretary Alan Johnson.
A landmark report, published by the National Cancer Director Professor Mike Richards, Improving access to medicines for NHS patients recommends a package of measures to increase NHS drug access.
Johnson also said that the NHS should not withdraw treatment from patients who choose to pay privately for additional drugs.
Private treatment must be carried out in private settings and will not be subsidised by the NHS, said Johnson.
The package includes supporting NICE proposal for greater flexibility in appraising more expensive drugs for terminally ill patients, and 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.
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 But I have agreed that, from today, NHS care must never be withdrawn in these cases - as long as private treatment takes place in a private facility."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," said Johnson.