Re-blogged with permission from This Side of the Truth: Wales and the Medical Innovation Bill by Sofia Baroness Ilora Finlay, a crossbench peer in the Lords and a very experienced consultant in palliative medicine, moved an amendment in the House of Lords Committee debate on 24th October: 39: Clause 2, page 2, line 11, at end insert “but shall only come into…
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Treatment Under the Saatchi Bill
Okay, my post earlier today about how the Medical Innovation Bill would really work (as opposed to how the bill team claims it would work seems to have generated quite a bit of discussion, so I thought it would be worth running through my flowchart quickly with you to show my working out, as it were. Here are links to…
The Medical Innovation Register
Re-blogged with permission from The Medical Innovation Register by Nigel Poole QC The new selling point for the Saatchi Bill is that it will lead to the creation of a new and important data base of innovative treatments. As seems often to be the case with the Bill, it pays to look behind the claims and check the reality. At its…
Under The Bus
I hadn’t expected to be returning so soon to the subject of the Saatchi Bill consultation. But after I wrote my post criticising how their actions had undermined that consultation, the Saatchi bill team have responded. Yes indeed, and what a response it is. I’m going to assume you’re familiar with the bill, and with the arguments in my previous post…
Bad Consultation, Bad Bill
[Since I wrote my previous article on the consultation process for the Medical Innovation Bill, there have been a number of developments, most importantly the publication of the Department of Health’s own report into the consultation. The article you are now reading is intended to replace the earlier one – you do not need to read the original in order…
The Government’s bewildering position on the Medical Innovation Bill
Out of concern for the Government’s declared support for the Medical Innovation Bill (MIB), a member of the Stop the Saatchi Bill Alliance wrote to Earl Howe, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Quality in the House of Lords, seeking an explanation for this support in the face of overwhelming opposition from the medical profession. Earl Howe responded, but his…
Muddy Waters
I salute the PR industry for finding new and elaborate ways to muddy the waters. (Ben Goldacre — Guardian, 20 November 2010) When Ben Goldacre wrote those words, he was talking about the use (or misuse) of PR to guide people into answering survey questions the way the PR company wanted them answered instead of how they would naturally be answered.…
The Saatchi Bill – True or False?
Re-blogged with permission from The Saatchi Bill – True or False? by Nigel Poole QC Here is the current version of the Medical Innovation Bill, following its Report Stage in the House of Lords in December 2014. As the Bill approaches its Commons stages, the following statements about the Bill seem to me to be true. I don’t flatter myself that…
Counting the Cost?
A couple of days ago, I tweeted that I’d written more than 6000 words in the previous week on the Medical Innovation Bill, noting — somewhat ruefully —– that it would take a lot more words to describe all the problems with the wretched mess they call the Saatchi Bill. I wasn’t joking. The lofty claims being made for this Bill…
Report Stage Roundup
The Report Stage of the Medical Innovation Bill took place on Friday 12 December. (Go to Parliament TV for other viewing options.) The full transcript can be read here. I will highlight just a few extracts. Lord Winston: I am disappointed that we are not defining “innovation”. That is important, because, clearly, these are issues which doctors will need to consider.…
