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Drug delays may be reduced


Drug delays may be reduced

Plans to reduce the time it takes for the NHS to receive guidance on the use of important drugs are to be outlined. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence issues advice to services in England and Wales on new treatments, once they have been licensed. There have been complaints the process takes too long. In Scotland, patients can get access to the drugs they need a lot quicker. Health minister Jane Kennedy and Nice chief executive Andrew Dillon will outline proposals leading to faster drugs guidance for the NHS. There has been particular concern raised about access to the breast cancer drug Herceptin for women in the early stages of the disease. Although the drug is not yet licensed for early breast cancer, the Government has said it will fast-track Nice guidance on its use so it will be available to women who might benefit as soon as possible after the license is awarded. Last week Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said that in the meantime primary care trusts (PCTs) could not refuse to fund Herceptin treatment on the grounds of cost if doctors said they wanted their patients to receive it. Doctors are able to use their own clinical judgment to prescribe treatments 'off licence' and in the absence of Nice guidance. But it is generally accepted that drugs become much more widely available across the NHS once the Nice advice is issued. Ms Hewitt told a lobby by charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer: 'I share the huge frustration of many women about the delays in accessing new cancer drugs and, in particular, Herceptin.' Charity CancerBACUP has also raised concerns about the delays in getting drugs and and published a report in September which said that 23 vital cancer treatments were subject to 'unacceptable delays' before being made more widely available across the NHS. The report said that UK cancer patients were waiting more than two years for some treatments and in many cases the treatments would not be available in time to help them.

ITN | November 3, 2005Watch more videos from ITN

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