#GPnews: NHS loses legal battle over HIV drug

16:45 Chair of the Health select committee Dr Sarah Wollaston has spoken out this afternoon on today’s High Court ruling which declared that NHS England can fund a drug that can prevent HIV – despite health bosses arguing it was not their responsibility.

NHS England has since claimed that it will challenge the High Court’s decision in the Court of Appeal, according to the Daily Mail. 

But the former GP Dr Wollaston did not agree with the move:

Shame that @NHSEngland not accepting the court judgement on #PrEP Shunting costs is no substitute for actually making a decision

— Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) August 2, 2016

14:20  A mother has called for the chickenpox vaccination to be part the NHS’s routine childhood immunisation schedule after her son spent five days in hospital with a severe case of chickenpox (apparently the ‘worst case’ the doctors had ever seen).

According to the Guardian, two-year-old Jasper Allen had bad chickenpox sores all over his body which became infected, resulting in doctors putting him on an intravenous drip with antibiotics, antiviral drugs and morphine.

The chickenpox vaccine is currently available only to those who are in contact with someone who is immunosuppressed or would be at greater risk if they got chickenpox, for example those undergoing chemotherapy.

Public Health England indicated that the policy would not change imminently but said: ‘The expert advisory body the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is currently undertaking a review of a childhood vaccination programme against chickenpox in the UK, based on the available scientific evidence, including consideration of the cost-effectiveness of any programme. This review is likely to be concluded next year.’

11:35 Our sister publication, The Commissioning Review, has more on that HIV story.

It quotes the Mr Justice Green saying: ’No one doubts that preventative medicine makes powerful sense. But one governmental body says it has no power to provide the service and the local authorities say that they have no money. 

’The Clamant is caught between the two and the potential victims of this disagreement are those who will contract HIV/AIDs but who would not were the preventative policy to be fully implemented.’

10:55 NHS England has been told that it does have responsibility to fund a HIV preventative drug following a court case brought by an AIDS charity.

NHS England had argued that it had no power to commission preventative drugs, as this was within the remit of local authorities.

The Times correspondent has another take on this story:

Mr Justice Smith quotes Five Year Forward View on prevention in arguing NHS England does have power to fund #prep. Oops.

— Chris Smyth (@Smyth_Chris) August 2, 2016

There’ll be more on this story soon.

9:40 Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has not assessed or written up scans on more than 11,000 vital X-rays, the Birmingham Mail reports.

The CQC found that the shortfall dates back to at least January during an unannounced inspection on July 27.

It also told the Trust that it was concerned urgent scans are not always prioritised, meaning some GPs were not receiving patient results for more than two weeks.