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Comment on ‘Impact of NICE guidance on tamoxifen prescribing in England 2011-2017: an interrupted time series analysis’

British Journal of Cancer volume 119, page 657 (2018)Cite this article

While I agree that the uptake of NICE guidance by GPs may be slow—and there may be all sorts of reasons for this—I think your recently published paper1 highlighting the impact (or lack of) of NICE guidance on tamoxifen prescribing is flawed, and misrepresents GPs.

First, while acknowledging that chemoprevention often takes place in secondary care, you also state that, ‘GPs are also expected to initiate appropriate prescribing’. I would contest this. Your reference in support of this statement states, “Recommendation 6: NHS England should work through CCGs to ensure that GPs are appropriately prescribing chemopreventive agents to reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer where their use is established through NICE guidelines”2.

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References

  1. Curtis, H. J., Walker, A. J. & Goldacre, B. Impact of NICE Guidance on Tamoxifen Prescribing in England 2011-2017:An Interrupted Time Series Analysis. Br. J. Cancer 118, 1268–1275 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Cancer Taskforce. Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy For England 2015–2020. Cancer Research UK. (2015). https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/achieving_world-class_cancer_outcomes_-_a_strategy_for_england_2015-2020.pdf.

  3. NICE. Familial breast cancer: classification, care and managing breast cancer and related risks in people with a family history of breast cancer. Clinical Guideline CG164. (2017). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg164

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  1. Laindon Health Centre, Basildon, SS15 5TR, Essex, UK

    Keith Hopcroft

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Correspondence to Keith Hopcroft.

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Hopcroft, K. Comment on ‘Impact of NICE guidance on tamoxifen prescribing in England 2011-2017: an interrupted time series analysis’. Br J Cancer 119, 657 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-018-0205-8

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