MP warns Government must deliver on NHS promises

3.17.38pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 22nd Aug 2008

A Stockport MP has welcomed Government proposals to localise NHS funding decisions.

Andrew Stunell said that the ideas included in the new NHS Constitution, which give Primary Care Trusts responsibility for making decisions on funding new treatments, would be a good first step towards a patient-friendly health service.

But Mr. Stunell warned that the Government would have to stick to its promises and follow up on them as soon as possible.

The new plans give NHS patients the right to expect local and rational decisions on funding new drugs, and oblige Primary Care Trusts to publish a process for making decisions on exceptional funding.

Mr. Stunell said he hoped the NHS and the Trusts would implement the ideas as quickly as possible to make real differences to patients.

Local cases have highlighted the difficulties NHS patients have securing treatment in their own area. One Stockport resident was refused a new treatment for a rare blood condition earlier this year, even after taking the drug as part of a trial. The drug is free, however, for patients in Yorkshire and other parts of the country.

In other cases, patients have been refused drugs to treat cancer, narcolepsy and other illnesses because of a lack of funds.

Mr. Stunell, the Hazel Grove MP, said:

"When a new drug is available, but isn't used throughout the NHS, it's only right that local PCTs should be able to decide what is right for their patients. The health service is too important to be run entirely from the centre.

"It's also important for patients to know where they stand, which is why the PCTs must be forced to publish the way they decide where to grant exceptional funding.

"Some of my constituents have suffered from administrative penny-pinching in the NHS. It is unacceptable that anyone should lose out on potentially life-saving treatments because of where they live.

"The ideas the Government has set out are a good start, but they will only make a difference if they are brought in as soon as possible. The Government needs to stick to its promises - a localised NHS is not just going to happen by magic."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1 Andrew Stunell has signed EDM 1943:

That this House welcomes the proposed patient right in the draft NHS Constitution to expect local decisions on funding of drugs and treatments which have not been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to be made rationally and for decisions to be transparent; is pleased to see the Government's commitment to requiring primary care trusts (PCTs) to put in place clear and transparent arrangements for making local decisions including for exceptional funding requests; welcomes the requirement for PCTs to publish how these processes work and hopes that this will mean PCTs will publish such information on their websites; further welcomes the announcement that the Government will work with PCTs to develop a set of principles to inform PCTs in such decision-making and hopes that these principles will include guidance on how exceptional funding requests should be heard, who should sit on decision-making panels and what patients should be able to expect from the process; hopes that provision will be made to provide support and guidance to patients throughout the process; further welcomes the announcement of investment in guidance and support for PCTs to put these principles in action; requests that the Government considers centrally collecting data on the number and outcome of exceptional funding requests; and calls on the Government to implement these proposals as soon as possible.