‘Poor evidence’ backs NHS drug decisions

[piglette]

Perhaps NICE might rethink some of their decisions to not support certain drugs.

digitaleditions.telegraph.c...

[HeronNS]

Interested in this as Canada is finally poised to start on the path towards a publicly funded drug program. There is always the worry that money trumps healthcare. "Value for money" in the healthcare system should mean the best/most effective treatment for an ailment, not balancing the value of life against the money. The examples chosen do appear to indicate that the value of aged lives is considered low, if indeed the medications rejected would be life-saving.

Public money spent on things such as healthcare, education, necessary infrastructure, even defence, should always be viewed as an investment, not an expense. But then, when I was in library school a fellow student heard me sounding off about something and in a hushed tone asked someone if I was a communist!

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Well as a tax-payer - us being denied access to anything other than pred seems a poor use of funding ... And in terms of HeronNS 's comment - count me in as a communist!!!!!

However - did I read/hear somewhere recently that their assessment of pred v tocilizumab did not include the cost of dealing with pred side effects? How many cases of diabetes, hip fractures, obesity-related and other spending were ignored?

[Nightingales in reply to PMRpro]

Exactly! The cost of all my poly pharmacy, surgeries, MRIs, scans, collection of consultants etc etc must be tremendous.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Nightingales]

There is a rumour this will be cited as a reason for reassessment ...

[Nightingales in reply to PMRpro]

I hope so. I would be a good case study ☹️