These commentaries by John Macgill represent his opinions only and not those of any Ettrickburn client.

Scotland’s NHS and social care app timeline unveiled

Health Secretary commits to kidney action

Scots kidney disease patients urge politicians to act

NRS-CSO conference programme announced

Rare condition screening for newborns across Scotland

Scientists to help cut NHS medical device waste

Pharmacies campaign to lead weight loss service

Government to review user voices on IJBs

AI for lung cancer care to help tackle “hidden killer”

Scotland falling behind on lung cancer screening

Charity campaigner to head up Public Health Scotland

Scots urged to show Yellow Card to meds side effects

Scotland’s new Chief Nurse appointed

Pharmacists urge leaders to act for the profession

Children’s doctor new Chief Scientific Adviser

Struggling health board appoints new leader

NHS waits pushing more patients private

Government to merge two national NHS boards

King honours Scots in health, care and science

Health board escalated over deepening financial risk

Call for ‘new way’ to assess dementia drugs

First Minster pledges people will see GP sooner

Views sought on unified long term conditions approach

GPs to tackle hidden risks of heart disease

Fears new Boots owner will walk

Scots living with liver disease set to rise by 54%

Scotland’s first senior heart pharmacist appointed

NHS Scotland relying on older diagnostic kit

New steps for pharmacists to access patient records

Gene study helps islanders prevent disease

Government boosts health innovation funding

Labour: We’ll fix the NHS, starting with GPs

Analysis: abolishing non-residential care charges

New Alzheimer’s drug rejected for NHS Scotland

Livingston-made vaccine gets UK green light

Current metrics fail to capture full NHS activity

First Minister unveils NHS renewal plans

National Care Service plans scrapped

Highland GPs to reclaim vaccine services

NHS Lanarkshire appoints new leader

Less than half NHS PFI bill has been settled

Care sector criticises ‘budget that kills’

Briefing: Health and care in the Scottish budget

Watchdog: action needed now on NHS reform

Major shake-up in NHS service planning

Report spotlights drug shortage crisis

Scottish GPs to be asked about future strike action

Digital health: short-term cuts, long-term setbacks

AI in NHS Scotland is here – but the leaders aren’t

Councils walk away from National Care Service

GPs told not to prescribe hundreds of items

Social workers warn of harm from care power row

Thousandth patient receives TAVI heart treatment

New nurses and midwives left jobless by NHS cuts

Partnership to plough millions into NHS research

Chief medic: Innovate to tackle health & planet crises

New ‘clue’ to treating arthritis and severe COVID

NHS reform to dilute some board boundaries

Harnessing a parasite to take drugs into the brain

Kidney disease focus of new research partnership

‘Unprecedented’ crisis in community health and care

NHS Scotland unveils plan to cut plastic packaging

Scottish government consults on medicines blacklist

RSV vaccine rollout for Scotland to launch in August

Protecting public health through pathogen genomics

The new MPs with backgrounds in health and care

Scots honoured in health, care and life sciences

GPs in ‘moral distress’ over drug shortage crisis

Genetic data offer new routes to fight breast cancer

Workforce and public to inform NHS reform

A third of positive bowel tests not followed up

‘The time for a care revolution is now’

Fast-track NHS training centre opens

MSPs to question kidney disease priority status

UK joins forces to combat antimicrobial resistance

Government urged to make lung health a priority

Glasgow celebrates medical research recovery

Cancer workforce “not going in right trajectory”

Professor calls to end cancer medicine funding lottery

New service to bolster Scotland’s health research

Charity: ‘Asthma care is in crisis’

Council to take all care at home services in-house

Rapid cancer diagnostic network improves outcomes

NHS receives extra cash from medicines scheme

Health boards to soon accrue £380m in lifeline loans

NHS chief execs agree 15-point plan to cut costs

Cancer outcomes worse for rural patients

Scottish health research collaboration extended

Making cervical cancer a ‘rare disease’

Surveys to shape access to liver services launched

Edinburgh team seek new insights into MS progression

‘Most extensive’ liver disease study backed by £30m

Biomarkers can improve melanoma patient care

The King honours Scots in health, care and science

Health and care innovation: Let 1,000 flowers bloom

Government to launch ‘conversation’ on future NHS

New chief executive for NHS Highland

Data integration: Don’t let health subsume social care

Government abandons plan to create care boards

At-home pessary care offers hope to prolapse patients

Snapshot reveals enduring GP contract concerns

New partnership looks to build digital-savvy workforce

‘Substantial’ impact of domestic abuse on brain

Being bad at healthcare innovation ‘is a choice’

More doctors means longer waiting lists

50 years ‘just the beginning’ says Chief Scientist

Women more severely affected by ME

Partnership seeks early Alzheimer’s blood test

Scottish health tech firm launches $2m clinical trial

Genome research sees £46.3m boost

Pharmacy funding dispute resolved

Call for preventative healthcare targets

Community pharmacy "sounding the alarm"

Scots honoured in health, care and sciences

£20m pharmacy cash injection small amid rising costs

Scotland commits to change the dementia story

Community Pharmacy rejects funding deal

Microwaves offer less invasive cervical cancer therapy

AI for early heart attack diagnosis

Expanding hospital at home services

NHS staff say data vital to improving care

Funding boost for hepatology research

Advice for devices seminar

Big data: closing the endometriosis knowledge gap

Briefing: Cabinet Secretary plans for health and care

Dementia: a treatable condition of midlife

Joint pharmacy project cuts adverse events

Scotland first to ban planet-harming anaesthetic gas

Pharma sector boosting Scotland’s economy

Study shows value of pharmacy in care homes

New treatment for rare genetic condition approved

‘Miracle’ patient to help create new CHD guidelines

NHS boards’ ‘unprecedented’ budget challenges

Digital health: This is the moment

News Release Call to embed genomic testing for every cancer patient in Scotland

RPS Scotland director moves to HIS

HealthTech losing faith in UK market?

NHS struggling to find vaccination centres

Pharmacy and medicines: Flourishing in Fife

Forth Valley unveils learning partnership

Plans for a more inclusive pharmacy sector

"Bold step" for pharmacy

New green inhaler prescribing guidance

Pharmacy leaders share vision for profession

Care homes embracing technology

NHS Scotland forms landmark partnership

Scotland well placed for tech in health and care

Leading care provider secures Highland HQ

Realistic medicine to help the climate

Repurposed drug for MND

Concern too few were responding to data strategy review

Allied health professions to focus on public health

£500,000 scheme helps thousands of new carers

Camera endoscopy to be backed with AI

NHS launched good ideas accelerator

NCS Bill published

Scotland can lead on dementia research

Promoting sustainable healthcare

The case for virus-killing uniforms

Scots honoured in health, care and sciences

Update: New portfolio to tackle inequality

“Vote of Confidence” in Scotland’s HealthTech Sector

Medtech putting Scotland on the global map

Exclusive: Scotland to get national vaccines service

Government explains cut in new medicines fund

Research strategy for Scotland’s NHS

First Innovation pathway medicines accepted

AI pilot in hunt for cervical cancer cells

Watchdog: NHS ‘unsustainable’ even before pandemic

Cash-strapped board warns over new medicines costs

Pharmacy publishes 2030 vision

Ministers order review of social care data ‘landscape’

SNP calls for Scottish vaccine industry

Scheme cracks maternity gas emissions

First step towards women’s health pharmacy service

GPs: formularies must have green focus

Watchdog approves ‘game-changer’ HIV treatment

Help for Scots biotech researchers to spin out

Aberdeen covid test platform “game changing”

Job Opportunity Researcher

Hunt on for new chief pharmacist

Pharmacists set out to 2030 vision

Community pharmacy: We want to do more

Too many numbers?

Pharmacists call for greater recognition in NHS

Why no minister for social care?

High street vaccination hubs mooted

We are running marathon after marathon

Sector Briefing - what lies ahead for medicines

We need a new normal for carers and politicians.

A realistic legacy?

1000 stories about Scottish health & social care

Medicines shortage – a new prescription for an old problem

Ettrickburn commentary - Labour's plans to radically shake-up the pharma industry (part 2)

Ettrickburn commentary - Labour's plans to radically shake-up the pharma industry (part 1)

Cost of medicines falling

Three Nations Three Practices

Community Pharmacy Eliminating Hepatitis C

Homeless People make Glasgow

Bundles of Safety

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Community Pharmacy’s Leader in Scotland

CPO: On the Road to Achieving Excellence

Pharmacy technicians may become prescribers

Profile: Dr Norman Lannigan OBE

Profile: Jonathan Burton MBE

Profile: Clare Morrison MBE

Deep Dive Pharmacy

Mind the Gap - Diagnostic Skills for Pharamacists

Bundles of Safety

Supporting Excellence - Alison Strath Interview

2018 Pharmacy Forum Agenda Launched

Which Referendum to Choose

Three Perspectives on Pharmacy and Mental Health

Pharmacy and the New GP Contract

Bordering on Problematic

Recognised by the Queen and her community

VACANCY Reporter/Researcher: Health and Care Policy in Scotland

Prescribing in Mental Illness – A Practice Pharmacist’s Perspective

What Matters to You? Communication in Pharmacy

Prescribing in Mental Illness – A Patient’s Perspective

Focusing the Vision: Dr Rose Marie Parr on the new strategy for Scottish pharmacy

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Ask Once, Get Help Fast? Pharmacy and Mental Health

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Pharmacy First in Forth Valley One Year On

Initiatives Highlight Potential of Community Pharmacy

Trying to concentrate on the day job

Health and the Local Elections – a strange silence

The Pharmacist Will See You Now – The Growth of GP Pharmacy

Montgomery’s Review – Dr Brian Montgomery answers questions on access to new medicines in Scotland

An afternoon with SMC

Pharmacists at SMC

SMC – are drug firms voting with their feet?

Radical Surgery on the Horizon for Scotland’s NHS

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Community Pharmacy in a Changing Environment

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Health and Care in the First Minister’s Programme for Government

CMO: Scotland’s pharmacists “absolutely ideally placed” to practice Realistic Medicine

Profile: Maree Todd – MSP and Pharmacist

Scottish Parliament Health Committee Work Programme

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Scotland’s New Health Committee

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Medicines – levelling the playing field

Key appointment raises the bar for health & social care partnerships

What did our new MSPs do before?

SMC says no then NICE says yes – three times

SNP promises single formulary and a review of Scotland’s NHS

More Generous than the CDF – but less transparent

Comparison of Funds: New Medicines v Cancer Drugs

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A tribute to five retiring MSPs

New Medicines Review - Health Committee sends findings to Government

Medicines New & Old in the Scottish Cancer Strategy

Great Ambitions, Slow Progress – New Models of Care in Scotland

Scottish Minsters Demand Up-Front Medicine Price Negotiation

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Scottish NHS Strategy calls for 'Realistic Medicine'

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When SMC Says No: An Access to Medicines Lottery

Reviewing the Review: Access to New Medicines in Scotland

A day of psephology and kidology

Insulting the Lifesavers

Worthy of Mention – Health and Science in the Honours List

News Silence from North of the Border

A Christmas PPRS Present from Pharma

13 April 2016: Comparison of Funds: New Medicines v Cancer Drugs

ENGLAND

Cancer Drug Fund (CDF) 2015/16                             £340 million[i] [ii]

Population of England                                                54,408,700 [iii]

 

CDF in 2014-15                                                          £280 million [iv]

Total NHS England Drugs Budget (14-15)                 £15,500 million [v]

 

The CDF equates to £6.24 per patient in 2015-16

The CDF equated to an additional 1.8 per cent on top of the total drugs budget in 2014-15

 

SCOTLAND

New Medicines Fund (NMF) 2015-16                        £90 million [vi]

Population of Scotland                                               5,327,700[vii]

 

New Medicines Fund in 2014-15                                £40 million

Total NHS Scotland Drugs Budget (2014-15)            £1,562.1 million [viii]

 

The NMF equates to £16.89 per patient in 2015-16

The NMF equated to an additional 2.5 per cent on top of the total drugs budget in 2014-15. Now at £90 million, the NMF would represent an additional 5.8 per cent when compared to the 2014-15 budget.

 

Comparison

The Scottish New Medicines Fund is 2.7 times larger as a proportion of the total population than the English Cancer Drugs Fund.

As a percentage of the core drugs budget, the additional funding for medicines under the Scottish New Medicines Fund is 3 times more generous than the Cancer Drugs Fund in England (5.8 per cent compared to 1.8 per cent).

 

References:

 

[i] NHS England – The Cancer Drugs Fund https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/cancer/cdf/

 

[ii] Visions4health Sharon Driver post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cancer-drug-fund-how-has-changed-sharon-driver?trk=prof-post

[iii] Office of National Statistics http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates#timeseries

[iv] Kings Fund http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/2014/09/cancer-drugs-fund-inequitable-and-inefficient

[v] HSCIC http://www.hscic.gov.uk/searchcatalogue?productid=19276&topics=0%2fPrescribing&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1#top

[vi] [vi] Parliamentary Answer Question S4W-29677 http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_ChamberDesk/WA20160226.pdf

Jackson Carlaw (West Scotland) (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party): To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it allocates to improve access to life-extending medicines. (S4W-29677)

Shona Robison: In addition to health boards’ budgets, the Scottish Government has also made £90 million available through the New Medicines Fund in 2015-16 to provide additional support to NHS boards for end of life, orphan and ultra-orphan medicines

[vii] National records of Scotland http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/news/2014/scotlands-population-at-its-highest-ever

[viii] ISD: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Costs/Detailed-Tables/Drugs.asp