NHS: Essential Services

Lord Walton of Detchant Excerpts

Tuesday 14th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I fully agree with the noble Baroness and her point about mobility is very well made. However, NHS England has stated to me explicitly that the assumption that there should be a rising trend in the number of operations proportionate to the rise in the number of elderly people may not necessarily be right, so we have to be wary of using a statistic in isolation to prove one thing or the other.

[Lord Walton of Detchant (CB)]

My Lords, can the Minister say whether it is still government policy that clinical commissioning groups should accept the recommendations of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in relation to the availability of expensive drugs in the NHS? What sanctions are available for those that do not comply with those recommendations?

[Earl Howe]

The noble Lord is right that when NICE gives a positive appraisal on a medicine, whether it is for a rare or a common disease, the funding for that medicine must be available through CCGs or NHS England. If a patient is denied the drug, contrary to the instructions or wishes of their clinician, then there is a route of appeal through either the clinical commissioning group or NHS England.