Written question WQ87962
- Asked by
- Sarah MurphyLabour
- To be answered by
- Minister for Health and Social Services
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 12 days
Question
What action is the Welsh Government taking to ensure people have access to new and innovative medicines in light of the success of the New Treatment Fund?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Health and Social Services
Our highly successful New Treatment Fund continues to ensure every medicine recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) is routinely available within 60 days of their earliest recommendation, this includes new and innovative medicines for all conditions not just cancer.
In January, the report Transforming lives, improving health outcomes published jointly by the NHS Confederation and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, demonstrated Wales has the higher levels of uptake of medicines recommended by NICE than any sampled region in England.
Since its launch nearly 500 new treatments have been made available as a result of the fund, with the average time to make a new medicine available in Wales just 16 days. We are providing £16m to health boards every year to ensure people in Wales continue to have rapid access to cost effective, innovative medicines.