Dementia prescriptions questioned

Paddy Tipping put a question to Jane Kennedy (Minister of State (Quality and Patient Safety), Department of Health)

If she will make a statement on the prescribing of drugs to Alzheimer patients experiencing dementia.

Her reply was

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is consulting on draft guidance on the use of drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The consultation ends on 13 February.

He followed up by a pointed question

Does my right hon. Friend accept that the early prescribing of Alzheimer's drugs can lead to savings in both community and residential care, and is she confident that the methodology that NICE uses adequately reflects the cost of that care?

Which Jane Kennedy replied to with a defence of NICE

NICE has taken account of the costs of full-time care in its current draft guidance on drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. It has looked at a range of costs, as opposed to a single figure that critics had previously claimed was too low. I stress that the consultation is still underway and NICE will listen to all the representations that it receives.

No doubt he is referring to this controversy