§ 33. Sir Michael McNair-WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many renal patients in Ninewells hospital, Dundee, receiving treatment with erythropoetin, had the drug withdrawn because of lack of funds.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythNone. Everyone involved recognises that clinical judgments about which drugs to prescribe for patients should not be inhibited by financial considerations. That has always been the case and has not changed. Of course, health boards are entitled to debate with clinicians whether the treatments that they propose to offer patients are the most cost-effective or whether there are better and more economical alternatives that could be considered. And many hospitals have drug and therapeutic committees and subject prescription practices to peer review. But, if ultimately a clinician's judgment is that a particular drug is the only suitable treatment for a patient, the board's responsibility then becomes finding the resources necessary to enable that treatment to be offered.
210WThe drug erythropoetin (EPO) was the subject of trials being conducted in Tayside health board. Those trials have now been completed. However, Tayside health board has confirmed that it is to find the resources to provide EPO when prescribed to all who require it.