Liothyronine

Linda Sanday made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Health and Social Care Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was refused by Department of Health and Social Care.

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,
Hansard, 27.1.2023, Lord Markham's reply to Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on the subject Hypothyroidism: Prescriptions, raises a further point.
Lord Markham - "medicines considered appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed and take account of the appropriate national guidance on clinical effectiveness" and
"the local commissioning decisions of their respective integrated care boards (ICBs)".

In the case of NHS Devon ICB their own regulations regarding liothyronine are contrary to the national guidelines per RMOC and NICE. NHS Devon Integrated Care Board state they are following guidance found in a medical paper published in 2012 (1) which has not been assessed by NICE or RMOC for effectiveness, patient safety or by other regulations covering NHS patients and therefore until this is done, cannot be deemed safe for NHS Devon ICB patients.

I would like to know why the Department of Health and Social Care which is in overall authority over National Health Service England which "annually assesses the performance of each ICB" has not picked this anomaly up and asked NHS Devon ICB to conform to national guidance on hypothyroidism treatment as per NICE and RMOC so that patients in Devon get approved (i.e. safe for patients) national guidance and not unregulated guidance covering their care.

(1) Wiersinga WM, Duntas L, Fadeyev V, Nygaard B, Vanderpump MP. 2012 ETA Guidelines: The Use of L-T4 + L-T3 in the Treatment of Hypothyroidism. Eur Thyroid J. 2012 Jul;1(2):55-71. doi: 10.1159/000339444. Epub 2012 Jun 13. PMID: 24782999; PMCID: PMC3821467.

Yours faithfully,

Linda Sanday

FreedomofInformation, Department of Health and Social Care

Dear Ms Sanday,

Thank you for your email.

The Freedom of Information Act only applies to recorded information such as paper or electronic archive material. As your correspondence asked for general information rather than requesting specific, recorded information or documentation, it did not fall under the provisions of the Act. It will be answered as general correspondence in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care

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Department of Health and Social Care

Our ref: DE-1435835
 
Dear Ms Sanday,
 
Thank you for your correspondence of 29 January about medicines
management. I have been asked to reply.

I appreciate your concerns.

I note that although you may have engaged with NHS Devon Integrated Care
Board (ICB), it is not clear if you have raised a formal concern or
complaint. If you have not done so already, you may wish to raise this
directly with the ICB and you may find further information and contact
details at
[1]https://onedevon.org.uk/contact-us/patie....

If after making a complaint, you are not satisfied with the reply you
receive from the ICB, you may wish to ask the Parliamentary and Health
Service Ombudsman, who is independent of the NHS and of Government, to
review the case. You can contact the Ombudsman’s office through its
website at [2]www.ombudsman.org.uk or by writing to the following address:
                                                                .
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
30 Millbank
London SW1P 4QP
 
Tel: 0345 015 4033
Email: [3][email address].

Additionally, and as you may be aware, NHS England holds ICBs to account
through the NHS Oversight Framework which you may find at
[4]https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/n....
You may wish to contact NHS England directly at
[5][email address] for further information, or to raise a
concern, as appropriate.

While I understand your wish to notify ministers and the department, I
hope you will appreciate that ministers and the department cannot directly
intervene in, or comment on, decisions about the provision of local health
services and related complaints.

I hope this reply is helpful.

Yours sincerely,
 
C Winters
Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries
Department of Health and Social Care
 

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