Patients are denied high cost drugs by NHS trusts - Telegraph

According to a survey carried out by Pulse, a magazine for GPs, 73 out of 134 primary care trusts which responded to Freedom of Information Act requests said they had put more drugs on red lists, or added new restrictions on GPs prescribing them, in the past year.

Drugs are prescribed using a "traffic lights" system. If a medication is deemed "green" then GPs are free to prescribe it; if it is "amber" they have to discuss prescription with a specialist; if it is "red" then only a specialist can do so.

Dr Bill Beeby, the chairman of the British Medical Association's clinical and prescribing committee, said the status of drugs should be based solely on clinical grounds.

But he added: "There are lots of people who try to put drugs on these red lists on the basis of cost."

With trusts under pressure to make savings estimated at £1.9 million each this year, the study suggests that increasing numbers are restricting access to drugs.

NHS Cambridgeshire has added 32 drugs to its red list over the past year, Pulse found, taking the total to more than 100.

NHS Warrington has added 25 "areas" of prescribing to its list, including the statins Crestor (also known as rosuvastatin) and Lipitor (atorvastatin).

via telegraph.co.uk

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