PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Chronic Illnesses: Medical Treatments (20 June 2022)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) tackle regional variation in access to NICE-approved treatments for people living with long-term health conditions and (b) reduce the length of time taken for patients to access approved treatments.

Asked by:
Feryal Clark (Labour)

The majority of services for people with long term conditions are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups, which are best placed to plan the provision of services subject to local prioritisation and funding. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement directly commission some specialised services.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) commits to publishing draft guidance on new medicines, including for long-term health conditions, at the time of licensing, with final guidance published within three months of licensing, wherever possible. In England, the National Health Service is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, usually within three months of final guidance. The Life Sciences Vision committed to identify and address unwarranted variation in the uptake of innovative medicines. This will assist the Accelerated Access Collaborative to increase the use of proven innovations in the NHS in England.

Answered by:
Edward Argar (Conservative)
29 June 2022