Ulster Unionist Party Health Spokesperson Jo-Anne Dobson MLA has called for the introduction of a new drugs fund to remove the current post code lottery currently being experienced by patients in Northern Ireland. 

Jo-Anne Dobson said;

“It is simply unacceptable that people living here are not able to avail of almost 40 life extending cancer drugs that are currently available and widely prescribed in England. It’s a post code lottery and unfortunately Northern Ireland has been on the losing side over recent years.

“This sense of unfairness will only be further compounded with the news that the Scottish Government has expanded a fund of their own, giving patients there access to drugs which would not normally be paid for by the NHS.

“I and my Party have strongly supported the establishment of a new specialist drugs fund for Northern Ireland. This would bring long overdue equity to people living here.

“The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry has previously said that with the new UK wide scheme, the industry could be meeting the cost of many of the new drugs themselves. Under the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS), the industry agreed to cover the entire cost of growth in the UK medicines bill arising from increased use of branded medicines for 2 years from Jan 2014 until Dec 2015. From Jan 2016 until Dec 2019, the industry would also cover all but 1.8%-1.9% of increased cost to the NHS arising from increased use of branded medicines.

“Whilst the Department of Health is currently in the midst of a budgetary crisis, at the same time they are in the situation of having to agree a new budget for 2015/16. I understand that the equivalent cost of a NI specialist drug fund, if we decided not to avail of the agreement in the PPRS, would be in the region of £7m to £9m. I believe, that with a total budget of almost £5billon, the Minister could find the required sums to ensure that next year Northern Ireland launches its own dedicated drugs fund.”