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Dr. Harris: I am grateful to the Minister for that clarification. The point that I was attempting to make--I shall try to make it differently this time--was that health authorities are already faced with prioritisation, or deprioritisation, issues relating to expensive drugs. They have to decide which drug treatments they can or cannot support.
Under the new system, responsibility for many services that are decided at primary care group level will--just as health authorities are struggling with the issue of the
totality of available resources--be transferred to general practitioners. Therefore, the question that the British Medical Association and commentators such as the King's Fund still require the Minister to answer is how they should deal with the problem of expectations exceeding demand when the Government imply that the resources are available.
Mr. Milburn:
If the King's Fund cannot read the White Paper or the quality consultation document paper that we have issued in the past few days, I wonder where all its money goes. What we are proposing is perfectly clear: the Government, in conjunction with the clinical professions, will take more responsibility than ever before to ensure greater consistency across the national health service and will, for the first time, do what no Government--Labour or Tory--have ever done, which is to ensure proper national standards across the NHS. I should have thought that the hon. Gentleman would recognise and welcome that.
As I have already said, Viagra has not yet been licensed, and the Government are keeping the issue under review. I conclude by saying four things. First, the Government accept that, for some patients, impotence is a significant clinical condition, for which effective treatment may legitimately be provided on the national health service. Secondly, depending on the decisions in the European licensing process, Viagra may be confirmed as an effective treatment for some patients, but, thirdly, treatment should be prescribed only following a full clinical assessment and as part of an integrated plan of clinical management.
Fourthly, and finally, I am determined, as are the Government as a whole, to ensure that NHS resources are safeguarded for those with real clinical need.
Question put and agreed to.
Adjourned accordingly at Twelve midnight.
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