READER RESPONSE:Re: Saving on the drugs bill, Healthplus, November 11th
Dear Sir,
Dr Muiris Houston raised the important issue of how Mary Harney might try to reduce the drugs bill by €64 million.
I find it surprising that there hasn't been more coverage in the media generally of this issue given what could follow from this: an Irish version of Nice, or the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to give it its full title.
Have people not heard about some of Nice's rulings in the UK where drugs for cancer, Alzheimer's and other conditions have been denied on cost grounds?
As Dr Houston points out, the infrastructure now exists in Ireland to carry out health technology assessments similar to those carried out by Nice, following the launch of the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) last year.
One of the few areas where the Irish healthcare service is superior to the British system is on access to drugs.
Of course, in the UK, the maximum people have to pay for medication is £102.50 per year compared with €1,200 in Ireland on the Drugs Payment Scheme (some patients in both Ireland and Britain do not have to pay anything) so the drugs budget is subsidised more here by individual patients.
Is this better access to drugs now going to be lost? Is nobody going to kick up a fuss?
Or do people only protest when a particular interest group is affected (such as the over-70s and medical cards or pharmacists and their fees) or when health sector jobs are at stake?
Yours sincerely,
Tom Kindlon
Castleknock
Dublin 15