Nice doesn't have to be nasty In recent weeks our newspapers and television screens have been dominated by tragic stories of NHS patients being denied access to drugs which have the potential to extend their life. By Andrew Lansley, shadow secretary of state for health 6:22PM BST 10 Sep 2008 A large amount of anger has been directed towards the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) which is responsible for making these decisions. While I understand the distress of people who have paid taxes all their lives only to then be let down by the NHS in their hour of need, I do not believe that NICE is ultimately to blame. Nice is, after all, a body set up by the Labour Government, which works within a framework of rules set by the Department of Health. I think the real question that needs to be asked is why this Labour Government is failing thousands of patients who are unable to access these life-saving drugs? Why, when British taxpayers have recently doubled the amount of money they provide to the NHS, is the health service not there for them when they need it? In the UK, drugs which are routinely available in other European countries are denied to NHS patients. As Sweden's top medical university the Karolinska Institute has argued: "The UK has a poor (drugs) uptake, which is lower than the average throughout Europe, and a slow rate even after the drugs have been available for 4 years".