Nurses earn bonuses for use of latest drugs

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2070273,00.html

 

 

The Sunday Times

 

 

March 05, 2006

Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Sarah-Kate Templeton

 

 

 

HUNDREDS of nurses on the payroll of the pharmaceutical industry are

earning bonuses of £3,500 by identifying NHS patients who can be put on costly

new drug regimes.

The nurses are provided free to GPs' surgeries where they are given

access to patients' medical records to check whether they are on the most

up-to-date drugs.

 

 

 

Although they are barred from promoting their drugs firms' products,

15% of their pay is linked to the number of patients or records they see. They

are routinely backed up by sales teams.

 

The nurses are described in promotional literature as being able to

" influence " new prescriptions for the benefit of their drugs companies.

 

Medicines cost the NHS in England more than £7 billion a year, 80%

of which is spent on branded products. GPs say there are no incentives to curb

their drugs bills, which can vary by up to 50% between similar-sized surgeries.

 

Under the scheme, nurses are employed by agencies, but paid by the

drugs companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Wyeth. They are sent to

surgeries, where they conduct audits to identify patients with conditions such

as asthma or diabetes who may benefit from a new drug.

 

The nurse advisers are paid a salary of about £25,000 and usually a

bonus of 10% to 15%. The agencies say they are rewarded for the number of

surgeries they visit.

 

Innovex, an agency based in Bracknell, Berkshire, told an undercover

reporter that it pays performance bonuses of up to £3,500 to its nurse advisers.

 

A recruitment consultant at Royce also told an undercover reporter

the job was to identify patients with a specific condition. The consultant said:

" (It) opens the doors to a medical representative. They come in and close the

business. "

 

Matt Griffiths, joint prescribing adviser at the Royal College of

Nursing, said he believed any nurses who were given bonuses to promote certain

products were in breach of the Nursing and Midwifery Council's code of conduct.

 

Innovex, which employs about 200 nurse advisers, would not comment

on how it paid bonuses, but said it always complied with the industry code.