AQW 26836/17-22

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 03/12/2021
Answered On Date: 15/12/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health whether patients in Northern Ireland will have access to cabotegravir with rilpivirine on the same basis as those in England and Wales, after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendation on 18 November 2021 of its use for HIV-1 adults.

Answer:

My Department has a formal link with NICE under which NICE Technology Appraisals are reviewed locally for their legal and policy applicability here, and where found to be applicable, they are endorsed for implementation within Health and Social Care (HSC).

When the final guidance for this treatment is issued by NICE, my Department will consider it under the usual process for NICE Technology Appraisals as per the guidance set out in circular HSC (SQSD) 2/13.