Glaucoma: Medical Treatments

(asked on 3rd October 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to make the biodegradable implant that replaces eye drops for glaucoma available on the NHS.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 8th October 2019

Decisions about treatment should always be based on patients’ clinical needs. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are required to commission healthcare services that meet the needs of their local population. To achieve this, they must assess local need, determining priorities and strategies, and commission services on behalf of their local population; overseeing those contracts to ensure high-quality care is provided.

National Health Service commissioners are legally required to fund treatments recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence technology appraisal and highly specialised technologies guidance.

The future routine availability of any new or novel treatments would be subject to large scale clinical trials demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the treatment approach and subsequent assessments of its cost effectiveness for routine use.

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