Chief Executive’s Office
Airedale General Hospital
Skipton Road Steeton
KEIGHLEY West Yorkshire
BD20 6TD
Telephone: 01535 294801
email:
xxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxx.xxx
7 December 2021
Via email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Ms F Mann
Dear Ms Mann
I write further to your request for an Internal Review of our response to your Freedom of
Information request Reference 5468.
To summarise, you asked:
“Under the Freedom of Information Act could you please advise if
Ivermectin and/or Hydroxichloroquine are used in the treatment of patients on the Covid Ward
(14?) or in the treatment of patients with Covid-19 in ICU. If these drugs are not used, please
advise the reasons why.”
Our response stated:
“No they are not used in the treatment of patients with Covid-19 in ICU or on
the Covid Ward. These drugs are not approved for this indication. Hydroxychloroquine is only
used by our Rheumatologists for treatment of various forms of Arthritis as per our formulary.” I have reviewed our response and I feel that your questions have been answered. No exemptions
under the FOI Act were engaged in order to withhold any of the requested information. There is,
therefore, no change to our position that can be made. We do accept that our response was sent
2 days later than the 20 working day deadline required under the Act, for which we apologise.
To assist you as far as possible, I have attached a separate sheet of information, including links
about the use of the drugs you mention. This does not form part of the FOI internal review, but you
may find it useful.
Yours sincerely
Brendan Brown
Chief Executive, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, &
Partnership Lead, Airedale, Wharfedale & Craven Partnership
Enc
Associated Teaching Hospital of the
University of Leeds School of Medicine
FOI Request: 5468
The Trust uses nationally recognised evidence-based guidance for all of its treatments, including those for
COVID-19.
Background information on the use of Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19
provided by the Pharmacy Dept at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust on 24 November 2021.
The clinical guideline for the NHS in England is clear that NHS prescribers "Do not use Ivermectin to treat
COVID-19 except as part of a clinical trial." (paragraph 7.13)
https://app.magicapp.org/#/guideline/L4Qb5n/rec/Ea088O Hydroxychloroquine is not mentioned in this
guideline, but was investigated as part of the RECOVERY trial and found to have no benefit in the treatment
of COVID-19 (25.7% of patients receiving Hydroxychloride died within 28 days compared with 23.5% of
usual care)
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2022926. In the absence of any alternative
evidence since this, we continue not to use Hydroxychloroquine.
The World Health Organisation guidance for COVID-19 states that Ivermectin does not have sufficient
evidence base for clinical use for COVID-19 and makes a strong recommendation against use of
Hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19.
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-
therapeutics-2021.3. Similar recommendations have also been made by the European medicines agency
(https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/covid-19-reminder-risks-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine ,
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/ema-advises-against-use-ivermectin-prevention-treatment-covid-
19-outside-randomised-clinical-trials )
Theoretical evidence from studies in lab bench experiments and animals
(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41429-020-0336-z ) indicates that Ivermectin may have an antiviral
effect, but the theoretical dose needed for COVID-19 would exceed by over 500 times the safe human
dose, which leads to a unacceptable risk to patients of toxicity. I am not aware of any research showing
antiviral effectiveness in humans. Toxicity has been reported by poison centres in the USA, where there
the misuse of this medicine is currently fashionable, (eg
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2114907, https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2021/han00449.asp, https://piper.filecamp.com/uniq/yyQHzDB8N11tCbpv.pdf).
Associated Teaching Hospital of the
University of Leeds School of Medicine