Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the funding arrangements are in (a) England and (b) West Yorkshire hospitals for the use of Docetaxel chemotherapy medication.

George Freeman

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body, which makes decisions on the clinical and cost effectiveness of products based on thorough assessment of the best available evidence. NICE has recommended docetaxel for the treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer (where the disease becomes unresponsive to hormone treatment). Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance.

In the absence of guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners in England to make funding decisions on drugs and treatments based on the available evidence.