Monday 1^st February

“I am delighted to have been able to secure a Parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall debate tomorrow, Tuesday 2^nd February, on Multiple Sclerosis” said North Wiltshire MP, James Gray this morning.

“As Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for MS, and Patron of the North Wilts Branch of the MS Society, I have long campaigned for disease modifying drugs like Beta Interferon to be readily available to all MS sufferers. With that in mind, I welcomed the so-called Risk Sharing Scheme, an arrangement between the Department of Health and the pharmaceutical companies that allowed for the drugs to be funded from existing NHS budgets, despite a negative decision by NICE.”

”But I fear that the scheme has in the event, failed to deliver for people with MS, and will continue to fail because of inherent flaws in its methodology. The scheme has become anachronistic, in the light of advances in medicine and current thinking around providing access to drugs.”

”For all those reasons I will call for the scheme to be wound up in favour of a thorough evidence review by NICE that will bring the NHS up to date and deliver the world-class service that the 100,000 people living with a diagnosis of MS have the right to expect.”

You can watch the debate live by clicking here on Tuesday 2^nd February at 12:30pm.