HL Deb 18 June 1985 vol 465 cc129-30

2.48 p.m.

Lord Winstanley

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements have been or will be made to review the limited list of medicinal products in certain categories available on the National Health Service so as to add new products and delete others, and at what intervals will reviews take place.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security (Baroness Trumpington)

My Lords, we hope to make an announcement shortly on the setting up of a committee to keep the selected list under regular review and ensure that it continues to meet all clinical needs at the lowest possible cost to the National Health Service.

Lord Winstanley

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for that very welcome and reassuring information. However, may I ask her whether she will impress upon her ministerial colleagues the urgency of the whole matter? Is she aware that the apparent absence of any clear and easy route for new drugs on to the list is perhaps a disincentive to the manufacturers to provide any new drugs, and that that could have an adverse effect on investment? Perhaps I may also ask the noble Baroness if she will make the information that she has just given to the House as clear as possible to all those concerned, so that there can be no longer any misunderstandings. Will she let us know at the earliest possible stage the composition of this committee of review, which is surely very important indeed?

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, yes, yes, yes.

Lord Molson

My Lords, in view of the hopes which the Government have aroused, which many of us believe to be entirely well-founded, that it is possible that as a result of these lists of allowed and disallowed drugs great economy is to be made, will they undertake periodically to issue statistics in an intelligible form so that we know what economies have in fact been effected?

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, I really cannot answer that question because it would be a matter for my right honourable friend to decide this. However, it is envisaged that £75 million will be saved.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, may I ask the noble Baroness how short is "shortly"? Is it true that her right honourable friend the Secretary of State has had no contact with the ABPI, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, since the limited list was introduced? Is she aware that very grave damage has been done to the relationship both with the British Medical Association and the ABPI? Can she somehow Or other—

Noble Lords

Order!

Lord Ennals

My Lords, can the noble Baroness somehow or other call upon her right honourable friend to re-establish a proper relationship? The present relationship is doing great damage both to the economy and innovation in the industry.

A noble Lord

Answer one!

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, it is envisaged that the committee would meet once a month at the beginning and less frequently as needs declined.

The Countess of Mar

My Lords, while it is a little early yet for a decision to have been made, may I ask the noble Baroness, or her department, to come to a decision fairly soon about the appeals machinery? That is because there are a number of people who are allergic to medicines on the permitted list, particularly the one nasal decongestant, and there is no means of their appealing or of their doctors appealing against the list.

Baroness Trumpington

My Lords, in answer to the noble Countess, the annual conference of local medical committees has rejected the concept of a local appeal mechanism, as has the British Medical Association. Clearly doctors do not think such a mechanism essential for the wellbeing of their patients, which would be the only justification for introducing an appeal mechanism.