Pills to treat cancer and diabetes have been banned
Doctors are being warned about prescribing certain drugs because they are too expensive.
Medicines to treat conditions including cancer, heart disease, asthama, diabetes and epilepsy have been blacklisted, with GPs being told not to prescribe them, even though they have been recommended by NICE - National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
At least 14 drugs have been put on 'black' or 'double-red' lists by primary care trusts (PCTs).
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, from the British Medical Association's GPs committee, says: "If an area is blacklisting a NICE-approved drug, it is breaking its duty of care. It is falling foul of the whole purpose of NICE recommendations."
Once a drug has been approved by NICE then GPs and hospital doctors should be allowed to prescribe it for appropriate patients on the NHS.
But if the PCTs decided to blacklist certain drugs then doctors are strongly discouraged from using them even is they are freely available elsewhere in the country.
Tagged in Health