THE Prime MInister last night pledged to look carefully at the controversial decision to restrict access to dementia drugs.

Mr Blair told The Northern Echo that the Government would not ignore the outcry provoked by the issue.

The Prime Minister pledged: "We are listening to the appeals being made to us."

Last week, Nice, the independent advisory body set up by the Government to advise the NHS on which drugs should be funded, issued final guidance that means newly-diagnosed dementia patients will not be prescribed a range of effective drugs.

Patients with the early stages of Alzheimer's will effectively be told to go away and come back when their condition has deteriorated.

The move is strongly opposed by the Alzheimer's Society, as well as the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Nursing.

The new restrictions on dementia drugs triggered The Northern Echo's Don't Stop Dementia Drugs campaign, which has been supported by more than 3,600 readers.

Mr Blair was responding to questions about dementia drugs from The Northern Echo's political editor, Chris Lloyd, at a reception for the regional press at the House of Commons.

While the Prime Minister strongly defended the role of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) he seemed to suggest that the issue of dementia drugs was on the Government's political radar.

"In respect of the particular Alzheimer's drugs, we are looking very carefully at this, and so is Nice. There is the ability to review decisions, particularly in the light of the evidence, but it should be clinically-based in the end," said Mr Blair.

"We are listening to the appeals being made to us, but in the end, that decision has got to be done in collaboration with them."

Mr Blair added: "The only way of sensibly taking a decision about what drugs Government funds is on the basis that someone objectively tells us what we should do."

Commenting on the creation of Nice, Mr Blair said: "For years and years, governments had to take the decisions about whether to fund certain drugs or not.

"It used to end up with massive rows about postcode lotteries and how did governments make decisions about this, it's a political decision and so on.

"Nice, to general acclaim, was brought into being and, round the world, people are trying to introduce similar things to Nice."

Andrew Chidgey, head of campaigns at the Alzheimer's Society said: "It's fantastic that The Northern Echo has been able to put such important questions to the Prime Minister and get the message to the heart of government.

"Thank you to the thousands of Echo readers who have helped us with the campaign. We urge anyone who hasn't already contacted their MP to do so to fight the restriction of dementia drugs on the NHS."

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