Gibson - call to MPs

As the Zito trust publishes a new report into a postcode lottery in the prescription of drugs to treat mental health, the Labour MP Dr Ian Gibson calls for MPs to examine the reasons behind the regional disparities

I congratulate the Zito Trust on the parliamentary launch today of their latest report entitled "Looking Forward To A World Class Mental Health Service". The Zito Trust's vision of a world class mental health service coincides with the views expressed in the recent Wanless Report published by the Treasury on Budget Day.

The Zito Report is timely, following on as it does from the publication last week of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance recommending the first-line use of the modern atypical antipsychotics for people with schizophrenia.

As the Wanless Report recognised, creating a World class mental health service does not come cheap. However, what Wanless also showed by looking at the cost impact across government was that, although the medicines bill will increase, this cost will be offset by reductions in relapse, re-hospitalisation, suicide, the burden on carers and the like.

I welcome the fact that NICE have not only acknowledged this wider societal impact, but also clearly strived to put the patient at the centre of the treatment decision-making process. NICE have recognised the value of advance directives and that there may be occasions when patients will not be able to exercise informed choice such as during an acute episode and that also in this case the newer medications are recommended.

The Zito Report today highlights the current "postcode lottery" by parliamentary constituency of the use of these modern atypical medicines. This snapshot in itself is no surprise, after all one of the reasons the government set up NICE was so that "postcode lottery" issues like this could be addressed.

The key now is for this NICE guidance to be acted upon so that we do not have a disparity in the prescribing rates of these atypical drugs in primary care ranging between 62 per cent in Wealden to 26 per cent in Warrington North, 61 per cent in Gosport to 14 per cent in Gedling or from 57 per cent in Cardiff West to 19 per cent in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

Rather than blame the NHS I would urge my parliamentary colleagues to work with their local health, social services and patient advocacy groups to help create the world class mental health service that we all want to see.

Earlier this year I brought together all interested stakeholders in my own area to meet for a one-day conference in Norwich. The challenge now for politicians and the NHS alike is to ensure that the excellent NICE guidance is acted upon.

To this end I suggest that parliamentary colleagues join me in an informal "NICE into action" group so that rather than reinventing the wheel in each of the 659 constituencies we can share the learning with each other and ensure that patients are able to benefit from the most appropriate and effective medications available regardless of where they live.

As I have seen at first hand with my work in the cancer field, NICE guidance of itself is not enough.

The key is implementation, implementation, implementation.