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A review of the consequences of additional private drugs for NHS care

  • Last modified date:
    5 September 2008

The Secretary of State announced to Parliament on 17 June 2008 that he has asked Professor Mike Richards, National Clinical Director for cancer, to review policy relating to patients who choose to pay privately for drugs not funded on the NHS and who, as a result, are required to pay for the NHS care that they would otherwise have received free.

Professor Richards is a respected clinician who led the development of the NHS Cancer Plan and the Cancer Reform Strategy.  As a clinician, he understands the difficulties patients and their families face in these exceptionally difficult cases. 

The review will make recommendations to the Secretary of State on whether and how policy or guidance could be clarified or improved.  It will be completed in October 2008 and the Secretary of State will be making the findings public. 

The terms of reference for the review can be found at the following link:

Professor Richards is very keen to hear views and evidence from all sides of this debate to help inform his final recommendation.  As part of the engagement process leading up to the publication of the review, he will be gathering as much evidence as possible from interested groups and individuals which will feed into his report to the Secretary of State.

If you would like to provide any views or evidence, you can contact the review team in the following ways:

By Email:

By post:

Robert Parsons
Deputy Head of Review Team
Consequences of Additional Private Drugs for NHS Care
Room G06A
79 Richmond House
Whitehall
SW1A 2NS

Given the challenging timetable for the review, the review team would like to hear from you as soon as possible, but is gathering evidence up to the 22 August 2008.

Professor Richards has also written to chief executives and senior clinicians in NHS organisations asking them to submit any views or evidence for the review.  This letter can be found here:

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