A Legal Opinion: Combining NHS and Private Treatments
Having been on the cutting edge of product development for many years, WPA knew that entering into the NHS Top Up Market could be problematic, mainly due to the misunderstandings and confusions regarding the interpretation of the law.
Therefore, to ensure integrity throughout, WPA sought legal opinion on this matter to illustrate an independent insight into the law. It is stated as follows:
The legal opinion from a leading barrister who is a Queen´s Counsel and an eminent practitioner in the field of public law addresses two principal issues:
The extent to which an individual has a legal right to insist upon the provision of particular treatments by the NHS regardless of cost and
The freedom for individuals to move between NHS and private treatment.
Nigel Giffin QC´s view is that
There is no bar in law to a patient buying drugs and having them administered as part of NHS treatment
There is no reason in principle why patients should not move between private and NHS treatment if required
There is nothing stopping a patient receiving both private and state treatment for the same condition at the same time providing this is clinically appropriate.
There is no bar in law to a patient buying his own drugs and having them administered as part of a course of NHS treatment. If that is right, it would seem to follow as a matter of logic that, if the only reason why the relevant NHS body would otherwise refuse to provide a course of treatment is the cost of the drugs involved, and if the patient is willing and able to take that cost out of the equation, then refusal to provide the treatment would be irrational and unlawful.
It would be impermissible for an NHS body to refuse treatment in such circumstances merely on account of philosophy or feeling that, if patients without the means of acquiring the necessary drugs cannot have them administered by the NHS, then it should not be possible for anyone to do so.
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