§ Mr. Ieuan Wyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his Department's policy on controlled trials of medical treatments. [45829]
§ Ms Jowell[holding answer 15 June 1998]: The Department recognises that in many instances the best evidence on effectiveness and side effects of treatment can be obtained from clinical trials. This is because clinical trials, especially randomised controlled trials, allow treatments to be compared with minimal bias. For this reason, the Department has set up the research and development programme for the National Health Service which: commissions clinical trials, so as to be able to improve care for patients in the NHS; includes economic analysis alongside clinical trials to determine cost effectiveness; produces systematic reviews so that patients can benefit from all the clinical trials conducted around the world; makes the results of these reviews widely available; and ensures that the NHS fulfils its obligations to meet the treatment costs of clinical trials whose research costs are met through other funders.
It is Departmental policy that all clinical trials (like other forms of clinical research) receive prior ethical committee approval from the local research ethics committee.
The NHS has taken steps to ensure the methodological quality of clinical trials through, in the first instance, the appointment of a National Clinical Trials Advisor, Professor R. Lilford, who has collaborated with the Medical Research Council in producing a set of guidelines for good clinical practice in relation to clinical trials which were based on the principles laid down by the International Committee on Harmonisation.
164WThe NHS is taking a number of steps to ensure that the results of clinical trials carry through into practice.