Following her recent appearance on the podcast the Shift, and her recent tweets regarding the menopause and Kate Muir's new book I thought it is a prime time to contact Nicola Sturgeon regarding the postcode lottery in accessing HRT particularly utrogestan. I have contacted the Women's Health Minister twice but keep get the stuck record response that it is not recommended by the SMC. I have pointed out that the SMC recommendations apply to the whole of Scotland yet Utrogestan is prescribed by some health boards, making it very much a postcode lottery. They said that my health board NHS Lothian is "working hard to find a solution that will improve women’s access to Utrogestan®”. I wait with bated breath. Although I struggle to understand what's so hard about it!
So I have sent an email to Nicola Sturgeon which includes an emphasis on the fundamental issues of " Firstly the SMC decision covers the whole of Scotland yet Utrogestan is actually prescribed in some health boards therefore why not all of them? Secondly pharmaceutical companies are driven by profit, therefore they are not going to be highly motivated to submit another request to the SMC as a patchy potential market in Scotland is not going to rake it in for them. Finally, as it has panned out the pharmaceutical company would have been better off not putting a request into the SMC as not all prescribed drugs have to have SMC approval but they (and we) lose out because they applied and were rejected."
Although I do feel like I'm banging my head off a brick wall I'm trying to have some hope. So on that note I think it would be a great opportunity while the topic is still current with the First Minister for as many women as possible to make contact with her office and share their concerns. Her email address is
[email protected].
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Topic: Ongoing bid to improve access to HRT in Scotland (Read 631 times)