MPs and local councillors should not be involved in making decisions about which drugs are funded by their local NHS organisation, a recent public opinion poll by the NHS Confederation shows.
Only 11% of the 1000 people in Great Britain polled by Ipsos MORI thought that MPs should be involved in decisions on which treatments to fund. Only 5% thought that local councillors should be involved. Seventy per cent thought that clinicians should be involved, and 33% thought that the public should have a say. Of the six choices that respondents were given, NHS managers were thought to be the third most important group, receiving 23% of the vote. Twenty one per cent called for representatives of the general public to be involved.
“Over the last 18 months decisions made by local NHS organisations about which treatments to fund have been highly politicised, as media attention on drugs like Herceptin have fuelled the public debate,” said Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents over 90% of the organisations that make up the NHS in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Dr Morgan continued, “These debates have highlighted the difficult and often heart rending decisions that clinicians and managers in primary care trusts have to make on a regular basis. It is reassuring to see, therefore, that the public believes it is clinicians, patient representatives, and managers who are best equipped to make these tough choices—not national or local politicians.”
The poll also asked respondents what factors they thought should influence decisions on which treatments should or shouldn't be provided by their local NHS. The top two factors were whether the treatment was likely to be effective (50% of respondents) and whether it would be used to treat a life threatening condition (38%). One in five respondents thought that the cost of treatment should be considered. Eight per cent said, unprompted, that the NHS should fund all treatments, regardless of cost.
Dr Morgan commented: “It's time to confront the reality and to recognise that if cost is not to be factored in NHS decisions then the public may have to be prepared to pay more in order to have every treatment funded.”
