Rheumatoid Arthritis (Hansard, 16 January 2003)

§ Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Treatment with Enbrel and Remicade has been available to patients in Northern Ireland since November 1999. In recognition of the high cost of these and other specialist drugs, the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland made an extra £3 million available in the June 2002 monitoring round. It is for each health and social services board individually to determine how best to deploy these funds to meet local need. Specific proposals to reduce the waiting lists for biologic therapies are currently being considered by the boards.

In England and Wales we do not hold information centrally about drugs prescribed and dispensed in hospitals, which is where Enbrel and Remicade are supplied. Therefore, we cannot provide information on how widely available this treatment is to National Health Service patients. However, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence issued guidance on these drugs in March 2002. It recommended that consultant rheumatologists, or consultant paediatric rheumatologists in the case of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, should prescribe these drugs in accordance with the guidelines set out by the British Society for Rheumatology or British Paediatric Rheumatology Group.

We have issued directions obliging health authorities and primary care trusts to provide appropriate funding for recommended treatments. This is in line with our manifesto commitment to ensure that patients receive drugs and treatments recommended by NICE on the NHS if deemed appropriate by their clinicians. The NHS has three months from the date of publication of each 60WA technology appraisal guidance to provide funding so that clinical decisions made by doctors involving NICE recommended treatments or drugs can be implemented.