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What Is The NHS Blacklist?
The vast majority of people will receive prescriptions either over the counter or through their home pharmacy via the NHS.
This means that people will receive prescriptions either for free if they are eligible or for the standard prescription charge (currently £9.35 per item).
However, some people may have heard of the NHS Blacklist which can restrict certain types of medication or treatments from being undertaken on the NHS, which is covered by the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Prescription of Drugs etc.) Regulations 2004.
Four surgeries are deemed to not be worth the risk and cost involved and are therefore only available in what NHS England described as “exceptional circumstances”.
These include:
- Arthroscopic knee surgery to treat osteoarthritis.
- Back injections where no sciatica has been reported.
- Dilation and curettage for menstrual bleeding.
- Surgery to help with snoring without a diagnosis for sleep apnea.
There are 13 other surgeries that are only available if patients meet a set of criteria agreed between them and their doctor.
The medicines blacklist, officially Part XVIIIA of the Drug Tariff, refers to specific products rather than generic medications, and the vast majority of blacklisted products are branded versions of medicines that can still be prescribed in a generic form.
Other products that are blacklisted include the erectile dysfunction medication tadalafil if taken every day, the opioid oxycodone, the anti-depressant dosulepin and tablets containing omega 3 fatty acids or lutein.
It also imposes a blanket ban on homoeopathic and herbal medicine due to their lack of proven effectiveness, which was the culmination of a lengthy campaign by the Good Thinking Society after it was found that over 7000 homoeopathic prescriptions were written in 2014.
This does not mean that such treatments are necessarily illegal, but instead would need to be distributed either through private prescriptions or over the counter when legal to do so.
