§ Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of his Department's investigations and inquiries which claim to show that in other countries with similar arrangements to the proposed limited list savings have been immediate and worthwhile and no damage has been caused to patient care;
(2) which countries with limited list drug schemes were studied by his Department prior to the announcement of the limited list; and when the studies were started for each country.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe keep abreast of developments worldwide in the provision of drugs by subsidised schemes and we made a particular effort to bring our496W information up to date last summer. Information was collected on schemes in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France. Holland, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Much of the information obtained in the course of inquiries preceding our announcement on 8 November was given in confidence by foreign Governments and it would not be proper for me to disclose it.
§ Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if any savings that arise from any form of limited list will be to the benefit of the National Health Service.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services to what part of the National Health Service he intends to devote any savings which may arise from limited list prescribing.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeLimited lists of drugs in certain therapeutic groups are being introduced to restrain the continued high growth in the drugs bill. The estimated savings have been taken into account in the level of spending on the National Health Service for 1985–86 announced at the time of the Autumn Statement.
§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will consult Help the Aged, Age Concern, the Sue Ryder Foundation, the Women's National Cancer Control Campaign, the Spastics Society, the Royal Society of Primary Health Care Nursing, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society, the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation, the National Society for Epilepsy and the Leukaemia Society about his proposed limited list of drugs;
(2) if he will consult the Renal Society, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing, the Epilepsy Foundation, the District Nursing Association, the National Society for Cancer Relief, the Cancer Aftercare and Rehabilitation Society, the Haemophilia Society, the Ileamostamy Association, the British Red Cross Society, the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, the British Kidney Patient Association, the British Epilepsy Association, the British Diabetic Association, the Back Pain Association, the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council and the Patients' Association, about his proposed limited list of drugs.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI would welcome any comments or suggestions from these organisations on the drugs for inclusion in the final limited list.
§ Mr. Michael Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, if a limited list is introduced, whether dispensing general practitioners will be permitted to sell branded products against a private prescription.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeI refer my hon. Friend to my reply to him on 5 December 1984 at column220. We are still considering this.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list for the last three years for which figures are available the number of prescriptions dispensed for each drug in the therapeutic categories covered by the Government's limited list proposals which are not included in the provisional list circulated with the Chief Medical Officer's letter of 14 December, indicating whether the drug required a prescription;
497W(2) if he will list the drugs in the therapeutic categories affected by the Government's limited list proposals currently available under National Health Service prescription which are not included in the provisional list circulated with the Chief Medical Officer's letter of 14 December to all doctors, indicating those for which a generic alternative will not be available under prescription under the National Health Service, whether or not a prescription is currently required, and the proportion of current prescriptions for those drugs which are prescribed for people entitled to free prescriptions.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe are presently consulting on the content of the limited list. Until this consultation is complete it will not be possible to start compiling the list of medicines which will no longer be available under the National Health Service. Our stated intention is to ensure that, within the categories of drugs to be included in the limited list, there will be an adequate range of effective drugs sufficient to meet all clinical needs.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many general practitioners have been involved to date in formulating the provisional limited list of drugs circulated with the Chief Medical Officer's letter of 14 December.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeAll general practitioners have been invited by the Chief Medical Officer to comment on the provisional limited list of drugs. Some 650 have done so to date.
§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the introduction of limited list prescribing was recommended in the Binder Hamlyn report on general practice.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe recommendations of the consultants, Binder Hamlyn, will, where appropriate be considered in the forthcoming Green Paper on primary health care. The report did not make detailed recommendations on prescribing.