Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what basis his Department took the decision to remove from the NHS Constitution the phrase ‘psychological therapies’ from the drugs and treatments that have been recommended by NICE; and what discussions his Department has had with NICE on steps to address the lack of parity in the way interventions for mental and physical health are addressed.

Alistair Burt

There has never been a specific reference to psychological therapies in the NHS Constitution.

For the most recent update, we did consult on whether to include a right to psychological therapies, as part of the wider right to drugs and treatments that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). However, the right to drugs and treatments reflects the legal funding requirement that applies to interventions recommended by NICE technology appraisal guidance. NICE has not been asked to undertake a technical appraisal of psychological therapies, so we decided that the most sensible outcome was to not include the phrase “psychological therapies” in the Constitution as it would otherwise risk confusion.

There have been no specific discussions with NICE on parity of mental and physical health interventions. The majority of new drugs and significant license extensions, including for mental health conditions, are referred to NICE for the development of technology appraisal guidance. Ifin the future psychological therapies are recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance and consequently mandated for use in the NHS, we will consider consulting once again on including a right to psychological therapies within the Constitution.