New medicine access times to be slashed under NHS plan
A new task force comprising staff from the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, and cost-effectiveness arbiter NICE – with the aim of cutting new medicine review times – will be part of the 10-year plan for the health services, due to be published this week.
That is according to a report in The Times, which suggests the objective is to reduce the time taken to get medicines approved and recommended for NHS use by a third from its current average of 299 days as part of a push towards "smart regulation".
The objective will be to make licensing and reimbursement decisions at the same time and reduce the administrative cost of reviews by around 25%, according to the report. It quotes Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting as saying: "This government is slashing red tape and turbocharging economic growth of the life sciences sector so patients can get the innovative treatments they need, faster."
He added: "To save our NHS and make it fit for the future under the plan for change, we have to do things differently. By having two of our most important regulators join forces, we'll rapidly remove barriers, get patients access to vital medicines and devices, and grow the economy."
The move could go some way to mollifying the pharma industry, which has been incensed by steep rises in the rebates that drugmakers have to pay on the sales of newer products to the NHS.
UK-trained docs to 'get priority' in self-sufficiency push
Meanwhile, doctors who have been trained in the UK will be prioritised for NHS roles as part of the 10-year plan, according to media reports.
The new measure – also reported first in The Times – aims to reduce the UK's reliance on overseas-trained staff, with around two-thirds (63%) of doctors currently coming from other countries. The plan will be to limit recruitment of overseas to one in 10 NHS hires, according to an internal government briefing on the plan, which has been seen by The Times, but reportedly has yet to be finalised. The aim is to make the NHS self-sufficient in staffing terms by 2035.
The broad strokes of the 10-year plan being drawn up by Streeting are already known – based on the themes of moving care from hospitals to the community, embracing digital technologies, and focusing on disease prevention, rather than sickness – but the detail is keenly anticipated.
Wider recruitment net
Just how the rate of domestic recruitment is to be accelerated isn't yet clear, but one part of the plan is focused on encouraging medical schools to enrol more students from deprived communities.
In an editorial published in The Sun, Streeting wrote: "Too often, there's a brick wall between working-class children and any aspiration to become a doctor," noting that only 5% of medical school entrants come from this background.
"Alongside Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, I am asking universities to up their game to get more of these youngsters into lecture theatres and on to wards," he added, suggesting that funding for additional places will go towards medical schools that can show they are responding to the challenge, with data published on the background of university entrants.
Among other measures in the briefing document are an instruction for doctors to make returning to work a key focus of treatment, in an attempt to curb spending on benefits, with work coaches placed in GP surgeries. Hospitals will also be challenged to employ more staff from their local communities.
Other aspects of the Labour government's reform plans for the NHS have already been revealed, such as the abolition of NHS England, programmes to boost patient recruitment into clinical trials, and a revamp of the UK's health data framework.
