Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that new, innovative medicines are recommended by NICE as quickly as is possible; and what assessment he has made of the difference between the average wait time for access to new licensed medicines between NHS patients and patients in other OECD nations.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aims to issue draft recommendations on new medicines close to the point of licensing, with final guidance within 90 days of licensing wherever possible. In 2021/22, NICE issued guidance within 90 days of licensing for 100% of new active substances where timelines were within NICE’s control. Topics outside of this timeframe were affected by external factors, such as where the pharmaceutical company requests a delay to NICE’s evaluation.

In 2022/23, NICE aims to increase the flexibility and capacity of its technology appraisal programme through a more proportionate approach to assessments. From April 2023, NICE aims to expand its capacity for technology appraisals by 20% to respond to increasing numbers of new medicines.

No specific assessment of the differences in average waiting times has been made. As countries operate different health systems, direct comparisons of patient access to medicines can be challenging. The EFPIA Patients W.A.I.T. Indicator 2021 Survey compares time to availability of new medicines across different European countries and is available at the following link:

https://efpia.eu/media/636821/efpia-patients-wait-indicator-final.pdf