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I was interested in Cameron and Dixon's letter about the continuing
problem of "postcode prescribing" in Scotland.
This is clearly unacceptable. On a wider scale however, we are beginning
to hear rumblings from the press about drugs that are approved in
Scotland, but not in England or vice versa. This too is unacceptable,
and was predictable when NICE was set up with a remit covering only
England and Wales.
Surely the DoH and the devolved health departments could agree to set up a
"UKICE" which would provide a UK-wide consensus on drugs and other
treatments. A UKICE would also be able to draw on a much larger pool of
expertise than any one part of the UK alone.
UKICE to stop postcode prescribing
I was interested in Cameron and Dixon's letter about the continuing
problem of "postcode prescribing" in Scotland.
This is clearly unacceptable. On a wider scale however, we are beginning
to hear rumblings from the press about drugs that are approved in
Scotland, but not in England or vice versa. This too is unacceptable,
and was predictable when NICE was set up with a remit covering only
England and Wales.
Surely the DoH and the devolved health departments could agree to set up a
"UKICE" which would provide a UK-wide consensus on drugs and other
treatments. A UKICE would also be able to draw on a much larger pool of
expertise than any one part of the UK alone.
Yours Faithfully
Richard Henderson
Competing interests: No competing interests