The new UK Medicines and Medical Devices Bill has been presented before Parliament.
The government is keen to highlight it allow NHS hospitals to use innovative, personalised medicines for cancers and diseases, increase the range of professions able to prescribe medicines in low-risk circumstances, to reduce GP appointments; and introduce new regulations on medical devices to ensure patient safety.
The new bill means hospitals can use patient tissue and DNA samples to tailor treatments to individual patients, or to develop drugs that have a shelf-life of minutes and would otherwise be unavailable to them.
The bill also allows the sector to increase the range of professions able to prescribe medicines in low-risk circumstances, as midwives and paramedics do now with pain relief and physiotherapists with anti-inflammatories, with safeguards and limits on what medications are eligible.
The government also claims medical devices will be “subject to the highest standards of regulation, further boosting patient safety and ensuring the UK leads the way in developing pioneering health technology.” Companies will need to register medical devices with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The health and social care secretary will be given the power to disclose specific information about devices to members of the public and the healthcare system, subject to appropriate safeguards, when there are serious patient safety concerns.
Health minister Baroness Blackwood said: “I am determined to help everyone who uses our world-leading NHS to access pioneering, cutting-edge treatments as soon as possible.
“The new bill will give our most treasured institution further freedom to innovate to improve the lives of countless people and protect patient safety to the highest standards.”
