Dr. Lesley Tilson:

Could I answer on the HTA process and the timelines for it? Our assessments are completed on similar timelines to the Scottish Medicines Consortium in many instances. An aspect that often is not highlighted is that in Scotland, all drugs are assessed through the full process whereas we have a rapid review process. For example, last year, we had 80 assessments of which 64 were done as rapid review assessments, which take on average four weeks at the NCPE. Only 16 products went on to a full health technology assessment. We prioritise very efficiently which drugs are assessed in a very detailed way and we try to reserve our resources so that happens.