Patients must know if a GP is incentivised

THE only thing any patient wants to know when he or she visits a GP is that the treatment prescribed will be the correct one, offering the fastest possible cure for a short-term illness or the best maintenance care for a long-term ailment, and with the minimum of nasty side-effects.

But how can we be sure this is the case when we learn of the millions of euro in secret payments made by Big Pharma to doctors? No company hands over money for nothing, and the clear conclusion is that doctors are being paid to promote one brand over another.

Indeed, US research confirmed this beyond all doubt when it found doctors were more likely to prescribe drugs made by companies that paid them.

In Ireland, the sums involved are considerable. In 2015 and 2016, Novartis made payments of €1,070,568 to unnamed doctors, AbbVie paid €751,742 and Roche paid €565,076. That is over €2m between just three firms, raising serious questions about clinical independence.

A common theme in Irish life is the lack of transparency. It is not enough that there is a register when doctors can just opt out of declaring a payment. GPs should be required to tell us if they have been paid money by a pharmaceutical company – and how much. Data protection has been cited as a reason for non-disclosure but in Spain the data commissioner ruled that the common good is best served if all doctors are named.

In the absence of such declarations the responsibility, as ever, devolves to patients themselves. In short, we all need to ask the question of GPs: Is a drug company paying you – and if so, why?