Clause 4 - Personal medical services, personal dental services and local pharmaceutical services
NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
Clause 4 deals with the important subject of personal medical services and local pharmaceutical services. I want to ask about the implications of the clause for Wales. There is concern about maintaining a level playing field between the nations on issues such as pharmaceuticals. The National Assembly for Wales has recently set up an all-Wales medicine strategy group to evaluate medical techniques and medicines, in much the same way as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence does. The group intends to issue its own guidance that will apply even if NICE is considering an issue. Will the National Assembly for Wales be able to allot money for
pharmaceutical services differently from such allocations in England and, if so, will the Minister give his view on that? Is there not some concern that, with the advent of such changes, important medicines could be available in one country but not in another? What are the implications of having different sets of guidance?