Politicians should not decide NHS treatments, the public says
Most people think politicians should not be involved in deciding which medicines are provided by NHS trusts, an NHS Confederation survey has found.
The poll of 969 people showed that only 9 per cent thought MPs should
have a say in which medicines or treatments are funded by their local
NHS and only 6 per cent thought local councillors should. Most people
(70 per cent) thought that clinicians working in their local NHS should
make these decisions.
A smaller proportion thought that financial constraints should be considered:
22 per cent believed the cost of a medicine should be an issue and 34
per cent thought the availability of cheaper treatments should affect
decisions.
Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, commented: “There
are difficult ethical issues that we need to grapple with … about
how we make choices in a cash-strapped NHS. It’s time to confront
the reality and to recognise that if cost is not to be a factor in NHS
decisions, then the public may have to be prepared to pay more in order
to have every treatment funded. I think the public is ready for this
debate.”
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