Exclusive: NHS cost threshold has not been raised by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence since 2004
People with motor neurone disease have spoken of their devastation at a likely loss of access to a life-extending drug due to an NHS cost threshold that has not been raised since 2004.
Tofersen has slowed the progress of the illness in trials but the chances of the drug being recommended for use in England and Wales are said to be slim.
Continue reading...National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says national early warning score should be used to assess severity of illness
People who are severely ill with suspected sepsis should promptly be given life-saving access to antibiotics to prevent unnecessary deaths, according to updated guidance from a health watchdog.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has said that the national early warning score should be used to assess people with suspected sepsis aged 16 and over, who are not and have not recently been pregnant, and are in an acute hospital setting or ambulance.
Continue reading...Nice guidelines for GPs ‘placing CBT on a par with HRT’ are criticised as ‘patronising’ and ‘scaremongering’
New official guidance on treating menopause will harm women’s health, experts, MPs and campaigners have warned.
Last month, new draft guidelines to GPs from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said that women experiencing hot flushes, night sweats, depression and sleep problems could be offered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) “alongside or as an alternative to” hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help reduce their menopause symptoms.
Continue reading...Hopes guidance could help diagnose colorectal cancer faster and cut NHS waiting times for colonoscopies
At-home faeces tests could spare tens of thousands of people in England and Wales from having to undergo invasive procedures to rule out bowel cancer.
It is hoped the move could help diagnose colorectal cancer faster and cut NHS waiting times by reducing the need to refer people for a colonoscopy.
Continue reading...Nice approves rimegepant for preventing migraines in cases where at least three previous treatments have failed
Thousands of people in England who get migraines could benefit from a drug that has been approved on the NHS.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), the drugs regulator, said it was recommending rimegepant for preventing migraines in the approximately 145,000 adults where at least three previous preventive treatments had failed.
Continue reading...UK medicines watchdog advises GPs to ‘taper’ doses for patients who want to stop taking the drugs
GPs whose patients want to stop taking antidepressants should reduce the dose of their medication in stages to lower the risk and severity of withdrawal symptoms, the medicines watchdog has said.
About one in six (16%) adult Britons experience moderate to severe depression, according to the Office for National Statistics. In England alone, 21.4m antidepressant drugs were prescribed between July and September 2022, according to the NHS Business Services Authority.
Continue reading...Guidance for England and Wales comes amid increasing concern over rate of obesity and cost to NHS
A health watchdog is urging millions of people for the first time to ensure their waist size is less than half their height in order to help stave off serious health problems.
The UK has one of the worst obesity rates in Europe, with two in three adults officially overweight or obese in an escalating crisis that now costs the NHS £6bn a year and wider society £27bn.
Continue reading...Nice says wearable tech reduces need for finger-prick testing by up to 50%
Hundreds of thousands of people with type 1 diabetes in England are to be offered a hi-tech skin sensor to monitor their blood sugar levels in seconds.
The device, the size of a £2 coin, sits on a patient’s arm and constantly checks their glucose levels. It comes with an app that tells them whethertheir blood sugar levels are at an appropriate level.
Continue reading...A frailty index is rationing treatment for older and disabled people who catch coronavirus. We are not sacrificial lambs
Lockdown was easy for me, it has become my daily state more frequently throughout my life. I have a debilitating connective tissue disorder that keeps me indoors most days. It was a relief I no longer had to go out and pretend to be normal when wracked with ill-health and hidden pain. Like thousands of others with rare conditions, I’m already in a minority within a minority, marginalised by our NHS, battling increasing disability day by day. So, while many fear a second lockdown over the winter months, I haven’t gone out more often since the first one was lifted because I risk a double jeopardy – catching Covid, then being a low priority for medical care.
Back in March, without consultation and days before the first lockdown, the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), a worldwide tool used to swiftly identify frailty in older patients to improve acute care, was adapted by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). It asked NHS staff in England to score the frailty of Covid patients. Rather than aiming to improve care, it seems the CFS – a fitness-to-frailty sheet using scores from one to nine – was used to work out which patients should be denied acute care. Nice’s new guidelines advised NHS trusts to “sensitively discuss a possible ‘do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ decision with all adults with capacity and an assessment suggestive of increased frailty”.
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