Prescribing postcode

By the late 1990s, the issue of postcode prescribing (patients being able to receive a particular treatment in one health authority but not if they resided in a neighbouring one) was a... 

The NICE was established as a Special Health Authority in April 1999. In establishing NICE, the Labour government hoped to improve standards of patient care and reduce inequalities in access to innovative treatments (i.e. postcode prescribing). 

NICE meets a medical need. If millions of patients are under-medicated something has to be done to rectify the situation. However, NICE guidance aimed at under medication and Postcode Prescribing has added some 700 million to the NHS bill for pharmaceuticals. By the end of 2004, NICE had issued more than 250 Appraisals and had annoimced the appointment of an Executive Director with the responsibility for implementing NICE appraisals. 

In 1999 the UK government established the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) as a special health authority. The government s objectives behind NICE were to encourage the faster uptake of effective new treatments, to promote more equitable access to treatments and to improve the use of NHS resources. In one sense industry welcomed the introduction of NICE in that the UK has one of the slowest uptakes of innovative therapies across Europe, has some of the highest rates of cancer and heart disease and postcode prescribing persists. The industry, however, remains concerned about the impact NICE will have on the pharmaceutical industry in the UK. Industry s concern is that, far from encouraging faster... 

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