English doctors face sack over non-NICE Rxing

A new UK government agency has threatened to close down general physician practices and suspend or prosecute doctors in England and Wales if they prescribe drugs that have not been cleared for National Health Service coverage. From 2010, the Care Quality Commission would deploy what it terms "draconian" powers against GPs who do not follow the guidelines of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Baroness Young, the chairwoman of the CQC, told the NICE's annual conference in Manchester held in early December that the latter's guidance would become legally enforceable, effectively ending any notion of physicians have exercizing clinical judgement. In a draft policy document published this year, the new regulatory body was touted as being "the first regulator in the world to have such a wide remit over both health and social care." All GPs operating in the public sector health care system would be compelled to register with the CQC from 2010. The new entity will have the power to issue penalty noticies to doctors, instead of prosecuting "specified offences."

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