The body responsible for assessing which treatments can be used on the NHS should speed up the process of approving drugs, the Bishop of Portsmouth has said.Bishop Kenneth Stevenson, who has been treated for leukaemia, said there were ethical as well as financial issues with the operation of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
He said at question time on Monday, October 6 in the House of Lords: “I am told that Scotland is quicker than England in this regard, so perhaps we have some catching up to do south of the border.
“Another starting point might be a much more robust and transparent discussion of what costs are, both in developing drugs and in using them.
“We must not forget that this is not about balancing books; it is about anxious patients, of which I have been one, who are sometimes brought into the discussion and are involved in some of the judgments made about how long people might live.”
Baroness Thornton, for ministers, said: “The Government has recently expressed the opinion that NICE needs to be quicker with its guidance.
“NICE’s guidance is based on a thorough assessment of the best available evidence, and it is recognised across the world as a leader in its field.
“The reason that Scotland occasionally reaches a decision more quickly is that it does not go into the same detail that NICE does; it does not use the same evidence. That is why that happens.”
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(Source: RI)