Doctors Call For Co-payments Decision For Northern Ireland

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 05 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PST

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BMA(NI) has welcomed the decision recently, by Health Secretary Alan Johnson, to permit patients in England to pay privately for drugs without having their NHS treatment withdrawn. Dr Stephen Austin, Chairman of the BMA's Consultants Committee in NI, said that the Association would be lobbying the NI Government to go down the same route. "This is good news for patients in England but Northern Ireland needs a similar decision.

"Sometimes expensive drugs are not readily available on the NHS yet if patients decide to purchase them privately they may not be able to continue with their treatment on the NHS. This is very unfair, especially where life threatening illnesses are affecting patients."

The BMA says that this issue is part of a much wider debate on the future of healthcare. As new, expensive drugs become available, and the population ages, it is increasingly important that society recognises that there are very real limits to what the NHS can and cannot do. The public, politicians and the medical profession must be fully involved in these discussions.

Source

Public Affairs Officer
British Medical Association Northern Ireland
16 Cromac Place
Cromac Wood, Ormeau Road,
Belfast BT7 2JB
http://www.bma.org.uk