Articles

NAPC News 11 May 2012

Pioneers For GPs in Diabetes Clinical Commissioning – Leadership Programme

A few places remain available on either 22nd and 23rd June 2012 in Manchester, or 6th and 7th July 2012 in Londn.

A new, highly interactive and engaging programme that aims to provide a select group of primary care practitioners interested in shaping the future of clinical commissioning for chronic diseases, such as diabetes, the opportunity to debate issues and learn skills and approaches to help them navigate some of the challenges faced in the changing NHS>

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 0207 663 2258 to register now.

The chair for the meeting is Professor Kamlesh KIhunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine, Leicester University with faculty including Dr Richard Brice, GPwSI, Whistable, Kent; Dr Nav Chana, Vice Chairman, NAPC, GPwSI, Surrey; Dr Partha Kar, Consultant Diabetologist, Portsmouth; Dr Brian Karet, formerly RCGP/Diabetes UK, Clinical Lead and GPwSI, Bradford.

Additional speakers include, Dr Charles Alessi, Chairman, NAPC, GPwSI, Kingston, Surrey; Dr James Kingsland OBE, President, NAPC, GPwSI, Wallasey and Dr Johnny Marshall, former NAPC Chairman, GPwSI, Buckinghamshire.

Pioneers for GPs in Diabetes Clinical Commissioning is and educational event initiated and funded by MSD.

Watchdog Support Botox Headache Injections

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has published final draft guidance, which recommends the use of Botox injections on the NHS to treat chronic migraine.

It is not known why Botox can help prevent migraine, but it is thought that the drug may bloc pain signals, in addition to being a muscle relaxant.

Under the guidance, adults could be offered Botox where they do not respond to three prior medications for chronic migraine.

Patients Are Denied al-Megrahi Drug

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has ruled that the prostate cancer drug, cabazitaxel, is too expensive to be prescribed on the NHS, echoing its February decision about abiraterone, because it claimed the drug extended life by only three months and was too expensive at £22,000 for one course.

Retired NHS Staff On £100,000 Pensions

Figures from the National Association of Pension Funds have revealed that over 8,7oo retired health service workers receive a pension of between £50,00 and £100,00 a year.

Gail Cartmail of Unite, said: ‘A typical pension in the NHS is about £4,000. For many, many women, in the NHS, it is lower than that’.

‘However, experts say the £4,000 average is misleading because it includes many who worked for the NHS only temporarily, some for as little as six months, and a large number who work part-time, meaning their salaries and benefits are lower/

Cosmetic Laser Treatments Costing NHS £2m

Experts have sounded the alarm about laser treatments as it emerged botched procedures cost the NHS £2 million a year.

The Department of Health withdrew regulation of non-surgical use of lasers in October 2010, despite opposition from professional groups and its own report saying injuries would double as a result.

GSK Makes Hostile Offer For US Drugs Partner

GlaxoSmithKline has gone hostile withits $2.6bn offer for Human Genome Sciences, saying this week that it firmly believed its bid was ‘full and fair’ and ‘in the interest of shareholders of both companies’.

HGS has a number of drugs in development but only one that is currently on the market – Benlysta, a drug to treat lupus that it co-owns with GSK in a 50:50 joint venture.

Drug Manufacturers Challenge Indian Law Makers Over Claims Of Collusion

According to a parliamentary report whose findings were swiftly challenged by manufacturers, India’s drug regulator colluded with global pharmaceutical companies to expedite the approval of drugs.

The allegations highlight the difficulties facing western companies that are seeking to expand in emerging markets.

Half Of All Men Will Be Obese By 2040

Around half of all me will be obese in 30 years, with women not far behind, experts have indicated.

They say that if current trends continue, cases of heart disease, strokes and cancer, as well as diabetes related to obesity will soar, costing the NHS £320 billion in the next 20 years.

Access Warning Over Drug Pricing Change

Government proposals to introduce a value based pricing system for new drugs will not significantly improve patient access to treatments, experts have warned. This could mean the existing cancer drugs fund has to be retained.

The controversial fund, worth £600m over three years, was set up in 2011 to pay for drugs the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence had found not to be cost effective or had not yet been assessed.

Department of Health guidance on the operation of the fund, published earlier this month, described it as a ‘bridge’ until the planned 2014 introduction of value based pricing. It is in response to the consultation on the proposals last year the DH said the aim of which was to improve access to effective and innovative medicines.

However, NICE chief executive, Sir Andrew Dillon, recently told the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry conference that value based pricing would not solve the problem of NHS organisations failing to offer patients access to treatments recommended by NICE, even if it had some impact on the uptake of new drugs. Uptake, he said, was a distinct problem in its own right that needed to be tackled by the government, the NHS, the industry and NICE.

ABPI value and access director, Paul Catchpole, said the cancer drugs fund and value based pricing aimed to provide a broader picture of the value to patients and the NHS, while the cancer drugs fund paid for treatment where there was lack of evidence of value.

Karol Sikora, director of Cancer Partners UK, which runs a network of treatment centres, said the 2015 general election would influence drugs’ policy. He commented that the trouble now was that whatever the value-based pricing solution that actually emerge, it would be coupled with the political solution of the cancer drugs fund. They could not allow people to die of cancer for want of a drug in an election year.

Just 27 per cent of conference attendees in a vote said they understood the proposals for value based pricing.

The Department of Health’s current plan envisages the quality adjusted life year measures, used by NICE, to determine whether a drug is value for money, being weighted to take account of additional factors such as wider benefits to society or if the drug treated a previously untreated condition.

Sheffield University has been commissioned by the Department of Health to research what value the public places on these additional factors, while York University is exploring whether the current £30,000 cap per quality-adjusted life year is appropriate.

Beating Bowel Cancer chief executive, Mark Flannagan, warned valued pricing would create new ‘winners and losers’ and could actually be detrimental to cancer patients. Capturing societal costs and benefits might not benefit cancer patients because they generally did not go back to work because they were not working age.

Dementia Patients Denied Access Care

A study by the Alzheimer’s Society has revealed that thousands of dementia sufferers are being abandoned to see out their days at home rather than getting specialist care in residential and nursing homes.

For many, the grim reality is being left to cope in their own home, often with just untrained family members to help. This can place a huge burden on family members who need to be constantly available to manage their relative’s illness.

Blood Clot Risk From Contraceptive Patch

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found that women who use contraceptive patches are five times more likely to develop a blood clot.

The study reviewed data on all Danish, non-pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 from 2001 until 2010, in which time, 3,434 women were diagnosed with their first blood clot.

For every 10,000 women not taking any kind of hormonal contraceptive, two developed a blood clot each year, compare with six women per 10,000 using contraceptive pills and nearly 10 women for every 10,000 using a skin patch.