Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will ensure that the appropriate funds will be made available when an endocrinologist has prescribed liothyronine (T3) for an NHS patient.

It is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to make decisions on funding in their local areas. NHS England expects CCGs to have due regard to Items which should not routinely be prescribed in primary care: Guidance for CCGs, published in November 2017. A copy of the guidance is attached. The guidance is clear that liothyronine can and should be prescribed by an endocrinologist when it is clinically appropriate to do so, providing the funding has been agreed with the commissioner.

If an individual cannot get a medicine their prescriber feels is the most appropriate, under local commissioning arrangements, the prescriber can make an Individual Funding Request on behalf of the patient for that medicine to be provided.