Drug watchdog 'set for new money'

By Jane Dreaper
Health correspondent, BBC News

Sir Michael Rawlins tells the BBC's Jane Dreaper why more money is needed

The chairman of the NHS drug watchdog has signalled his organisation is about to get a significant amount of government money to expand its work.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) rules on which treatments should be available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Sir Michael Rawlins said he had made "a lot of noise" about new funds - and was confident the government had listened.

An announcement could be part of Lord Darzi's review of the NHS next week.

Sir Michael, interviewed by the BBC to mark the 60th anniversary of the NHS next week, wants the extra money so NICE can issue new guidelines about the treatment of sick children and patients with less common cancers, such as brain tumours.

There has been a tradition of co-payments for many years Sir Michael Rawlins Sir Michael Rawlins interview

He said: "In two years' time, we will have completed 120 guidelines.

"From then on, we will have to keep revising them every three or four years so they are up-to-date, because science moves on.

"So we are proposing to the government that they invest much more heavily in our guidelines programme, so we can do a whole lot of further guidelines.

"This will mean we can considerably improve the quality of care patients get from the NHS."

Co-payments

NICE decides on how patients should be treated, and on which drugs are cost-effective for the NHS to fund.

Refusal to back certain drugs has provoked controversy, with a legal challenge mounted over medication for dementia.

The latest row has involved "co-payments" - when patients who top up their care with private treatment are then denied NHS services.

Ministers in Wales, Scotland and now England have begun reviews into whether these top-ups should be allowed alongside NHS treatment.

Sir Michael said: "On a superficial level, it appears to be indefensible. However, it is complicated and it really does need to be aired openly.

"There has been a tradition of co-payments for many years.

"If you have a baby through IVF, the NHS then looks after you when you're pregnant and delivers the child.

"On the other hand, if you buy your own anti-cancer drug and then that causes a nasty side-effect which requires an admission to an intensive care unit - who covers the cost of that?

"Some of these drugs are very toxic, and this is a serious issue.

"It is a political decision that parliament should decide, on behalf of people who use and pay for the NHS."