Reform Bulletin

31 March 2008

Bulletin - 31 March 2008

• Doctors for Reform has launched a new campaign to raise funds to challenge the Department of Health’s ban on patients paying towards their own NHS treatment. It aims to raise £35,000 which would allow a patient to seek a judicial review of the Department of Health’s position. If the case is won, it would set a legal precedent for patients in similar situations, and could benefit thousands of patients nationwide.
• In recent weeks, a series of high profile cases has seen NHS organisations refuse to allow patients to pay extra towards their NHS treatments (typically for a particular drug which the NHS would not fund). The patients were told that if they wanted to pay extra, they would have to pay for the entire costs of their treatment. The NHS organisations based their decisions on guidance issued by the Department of Health. Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Health, has personally opposed such payments.
• Legal opinion suggests that the Department of Health’s position can be challenged in law by an individual patient who has been prevented from “topping-up” their treatment. A major barrier to this is the costs of losing the action, estimated to be £35,000. The campaign is therefore appealing to the public to raise that amount as a “fighting fund”. To donate please go to www.doctorsforreform.com.
• Any individual wanting to challenge the Department of Health’s policy would have the pro bono support of Halliwells LLP, who have acted pro bono on the previous legal cases regarding co-payment. Several members of Doctors for Reform have also pledged to give pro bono medical opinions to a patient seeking to undertake a legal case.
• Even if a case is not taken, the campaign expects to have a major impact. By raising awareness of the unfairness of current policy, and by encouraging more patients and medical professionals to speak out, it will put pressure on the Department to review its current stance.
• A particular concern of Doctors for Reform is that the confusion over patients’ rights to treatment is preventing doctors fulfilling their duty of care. Christoph Lees, an NHS obstetrician and gynaecologist and a member of the Steering Committee of Doctors for Reform, said: “Doctors are caught in a terrible dilemma: do you tell a sick patient about a drug that could improve their quality and length of life, or do you pretend that it doesn’t exist? You can’t keep the Department of Health and GMC both happy whatever you decide. We are in the bizarre situation where political ideology appears more important than allowing someone to improve their quality or quantity of life.”

The launch of the campaign was covered exclusively in The Sunday Times.

For more information please contact Helen Rainbow on 0207 233 3824 or 07921 368305.