§ Mr. Pikeasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many representations he has received about his proposal to introduce a limited list for National Health Service prescriptions; and if he will put into categories the numbers making such representations.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeSo far we have received almost 3,000 letters commenting on our proposals to limit the range of drugs available in certain therapeutic categories. Of those, some 900 have been sent by doctors arid the remainder have come from a wide range of individuals and organisations. Over 300 of the letters from doctors have simply been circular letters supplied by the drug industry which show an imperfect understanding of our proposals.
In addition, the Chief Medical Officer has received well over 1,000 replies to his letter of 14 December 1984 to all doctors. These have contained constructive suggestions about the medicines which should remain available to meet clinical needs.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many drugs are prescribed under the National Health Service; and what percentage of the total are likely to be affected by the proposed limited list; and, of the drugs presently prescribable, what percentage of the total are proprietary drugs.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke[pursuant to his reply, 21 January 1985, c. 353]: Doctors can prescribe under the NHS from a range of around 18,000 different items. Details of the numbers of proprietary drugs are not readily available, but in England in 1983 about 82 per cent. of all prescriptions dispensed by retail chemists were for proprietary products. The proportion of proprietary drugs affected by our limited list proposals cannot be estimated until the list is finalised after consultation with the medical and pharmaceutical professions and the drugs industry. However, the therapeutic categories of drugs covered by our proposals comprise only about 10 per cent. of expenditure on drugs and only some drugs in those categories will be affected.
§ Mrs. Ann Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) why the British Medical Association, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and other concerned bodies were not consulted during the course of the in-depth study into limited list and generic prescribing as outlined by the Lord Glenarthur speaking in another place on 15 January;
(2) whether he intends to publish the details of the in-depth study carried out since 1981 into generic and limited list prescribing as outlined by the Lord Glenarthur speaking in another place on 15 January.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeMy noble Friend Lord Glenarthur was describing in another place on 15 January the discussions that preceded and followed the production of the Greenfield report and the process by which we have kept abreast of developments worldwide in the provision of drug subsidised schemes. We made particular efforts to bring our information on international experience up to date last summer and collected detail on schemes in a 463W number of countries. We did not produce any report in a form that could be published. There has been a large amount of debate involving the Government and members of the professions and the industry over the last two years on the subject of containing drug costs and I do not see what further consultations could have been held usefully before my right hon. Friend announced the beginning of consultation on our limited list proposed in November.