Commissioning medicines for individuals aged 16-17 years old treated in adult services

The NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Policy Statement: Commissioning medicines for individuals aged 16-17 years old treated in adult services has been developed to ensure that the same commissioning principles are applied to medicines for individuals aged 16-17 years old regardless of the commissioning body and to provide them with access to treatments routinely available to individuals aged 18 years and above, if the conditions outlined in the policy are met.

It formalises the ICB commissioning position to minimise any unwarranted clinical variation across Cheshire and Merseyside for this patient cohort and to ensure equitable access to treatment options regardless of which service they present to.

A number of drugs and conditions have been identified that are routinely used in this patient cohort, and those drugs and indications listed are considered as ‘prior approval’ under this policy, with associated BlueTeq forms in place.

An application form must be completed and submitted for any drugs or indications not included on the ‘prior approval’ list, which will be considered using the agreed accompanying process to underpin consideration of these individual funding applications. This will ensure consistency and efficiency in individual funding considerations as well as adding robust governance around decision-making.

The ‘prior approval’ list will be reviewed regularly based on individual funding consideration applications and local intelligence from the High Cost Drugs working group.