AQW 8841/16-21

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 08/12/2016
Answered On Date: 22/12/2016
Priority Written: Yes

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health which (i) clinicians; and (ii) patients groups were consulted in her decision not to follow the new National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) recommended for use within the CDF process, on access to cancer medicines.

Answer:

The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) applies only to England. As there is no equivalent to the Cancer Drugs Fund in the north of Ireland, there has been no change in respect of my Department’s policy position on the matter.

Various professional studies have discredited the effectiveness and equity of the CDF as an effective measure for targeting limited resources at commissioning specialist drugs. On reviewing the CDF the National Audit Office found it was not sustainable in its original form. The annual budget for the CDF was increased from £200m in 2011/12 to £340m in 2015/16. The CDF has exceeded its budget each year since 2013/14 with the final position for 2015/16 being £466m - an overspend of £126m. Subsequent to the NAO report NICE took over the management of the CDF, which has been capped at £340m.

All cancer drugs that have been recommended by the NICE for routine use in the NHS are available in the North. In England those drugs for which there is significant remaining clinical uncertainty may be recommended for inclusion in the CDF and made available for a period of up to two years, after which time it will be re-evaluated by NICE and either recommended for routine commissioning or not.

In the North this category of drug may be accessed, where clinical exceptionality can be established, via the current Individual Funding Request (IFR) process.

The IFR process is currently being revised and this work is well advanced. I expect my officials to report to me very shortly and I will publish the new IFR policy as soon as possible after this subject to available funding.