Doctors seek to challenge NHS top-up ban

1 April 2008

Health Insurance magazine, 1 April 2008

Independent think tank Doctors for Reform is trying to raise funds to challenge the government's ban on patients paying towards their own NHS treatment.

It aims to raise £35,000 which would allow a patient to seek judicial review of the Department of Health's (DH) position on so-called "top-ups".

Recent weeks have seen a series of high profile cases where NHS organisations have refused to allow patients to pay extra towards drugs. Some patients have been told that if they want to pay extra, they will have to fund the entire costs of their treatment.

Christoph Lees, a member of the Steering Committee of Doctors for Reform, said confusion over patients' rights to treatment is preventing doctors fulfilling their duty of care.

He 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 DH and the General Medical Council 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."