‘Desperate’ NHS units rationing 10p statins
STATINS that cost just pennies are being rationed by the NHS in measures “borne out of desperation”, leading doctors have warned.
The decision to restrict the heart drugs was last night criticised by health watchdogs, who said wider prescribing of the medication had been recommended to stop “lives being destroyed”.
The restrictions emerged amid growing concern about rationing across the NHS, with limits being put on surgery for cataracts, and hip and knee operations, as the health service faces its worst financial crisis.
Today, NHS trusts are expected to announce that they are missing a swathe of performance targets, with long waits in Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments, even in midsummer, and delays for cancer treatment.
Yesterday, a leading surgeon raised fears that growing numbers of patients will be left to endure “crippling pain” amid tightening restrictions on common treatments and operations. Plans have also emerged from St Helens clinical commissioning group (CCG) in Merseyside to suspend all but the most urgent treatment for four months, in a bid to stave off a cash crisis.
Now, Stockport CCG, also in the North West, has come under fire over a decision to ration statins. The cholesterol-busting drugs cost the NHS less than 10p per patient per day.
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommends
statins should be offered to all patients assessed as having at least a one-in-10 chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke within a decade.
But Stockport CCG has ordered its GPs to ignore the official advice, instead restricting the drugs to those at greatest risk.
Dr Andrew Green, the chairman of a British Medical Association (BMA) committee on prescribing, told Pulse magazine: “So many CCGs are in deficit due to underfunding, and the pressure on them to achieve financial balance is so great, that we are beginning to see some very strange decisions born out of desperation.”
Stockport CCG said the decision to restrict the drugs to those with at least a one-in-five chance of heart disease was part of a wider strategy to tackle its finances. In a statement, it said: ‘The CCG was required to make some decisions on savings to achieve financial balance and long-term financial health. The plan included a decision to not implement Nice lipid modification guidelines for primary prevention in full.”
Prof Mark Baker, director of the centre for clinical practice at Nice, criticised the decision. “Cardiovascular disease maims and kills people through coronary heart disease, peripheral arterial disease and stroke. Together, these kill one in three of us. This decision amounts to denying patients access to the most effective means of reducing that risk,” he said.
“Our guidance is intended to prevent many lives being destroyed.”
Yesterday, Stephen Cannon, vicepresident of the Royal College of Surgeons, raised concerns that patients could be left waiting years for hospital treatment without changes in funding.
A Department of Health spokesman said it was vital the NHS spent money “effectively”. “Doctors should make decisions about prescribing statins based on clinical evidence – there should be no blanket restriction,” he said.