Published 5 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2418
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2418

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Patients in England are given green light to buy drugs privately alongside NHS care

¹ London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Patients in England will be able to top up their treatment with drugs bought privately and yet continue to receive NHS care, provided that they have their top-up treatment administered in a non-NHS setting, the health secretary announced this week.

The change in rules on top-up drugs, which has immediate effect, is part of a package of 14 recommendations made by Mike Richards, England’s national clinical director for cancer, in his review of copayments, all of which the government has accepted.

Taken together the new plans will reduce the number of people seeking private drug treatment from the estimated 5000 patients a year currently to a few hundred people, predicted Professor Richards.

New guidance, which is being sent to all trusts and commissioners in England, says that patients may pay for additional private healthcare while continuing to receive care from the NHS but that there should be no risk of . . . [Full text of this article]

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