In August 2013 I read an article published in the BMJ which was entitled “Three quarters of guideline panellists have ties to the drug industry”.
I have petitioned the Scottish parliament for a Sunshine Act. My petition seeks a single, searchable register of payments made to healthcare workers and academics. My petition has now been considered 6 times by a parliamentary committee. The committee would appear to be coming to the view that such a register would need to have statutory underpinning (just as they have in France and the USA). However, before any decision is made by parliament, the Scottish Government have asked for wider public consultation.
The Scottish Government and the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport, have made comment that apart from the petitioner the issue of transparency has not been raised by other NHS healthcare professionals. This brings me to this blog-post which…
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