UK Govt View Greater Industry Role In NHS

26 May 1996

UK Secretary of State for Health Stephen Dorrell is examining proposals to involve the pharmaceutical industry more closely in the running of the National Health Service through the development of disease management packages.

Mr Dorrell circulated a discussion paper last week which notes that particular interest in this area has been generated by the desire for joint disease management ventures between the NHS and private-sector companies, including pharmaceutical companies, with a number of health authorities already having been approached by the private sector. "A key issue for the NHS," says the discussion paper, "is whether, and to what extent, such joint ventures would benefit patients, eg in terms of improved patient care and treatment outcomes, and whether they will provide more cost-effective services than the NHS can deliver on its own."

Common Features Of Current Proposals The schemes currently being proposed, it says, tend to be characterized by some or all of the following: - they involve a contract between an NHS body and a commercial firm which may have an interest, direct or indirect, in the manufacture, supply or distribution of drugs; - the contract may involve restrictions or commitments of some kind, eg through a locally-agreed formulary, concerning which drugs and medicines may be used to treat patients; - the contract may include the provision of other services in addition to drugs or drug delivery services; - the contract will usually involve information management of either prescribing or treatment data, or both; and - the contract may involve expenditure from both the primary care drugs budget and other budgets.

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