The National policy document on statins has revealed where the policy on statins is right now and where it aims to be in the future. It is not difficult to agree with the notion that clinical and administrative experiences can be usefully combined to produce a depth and breadth of skills and ability, to help with the decision making processes used to find the best direction in which to take public health care.
Implicit in this agreement, is the idea of accepting that people in authority can be charged to look after the public health and still be trusted to make good decisions. The machinery for looking after the health of the public is also controlled by the authorities who are charged with looking after the health care needs of the populace.
The authority part of the machinery of health care delivery is going to implement TA094 and use several means to enforce compliance. It is accepted by the policy makers that the issue is an important one. The Department of Health (DoH) is in the position of producing the policy and facilitating and overseeing its implementation
The policy introduction acknowledges that statins have a key role in reducing mortality (death), morbidity (the relative incidence of a disease) and the need for interventions. It is also keen to inform the reader that there should be an increase in the use of statin prescribing, if the primary prevention guidance in TA094 is to be met.
By accepting the proposition that statins have a key role to play, it is clear that the risks which attend statin use were probably discounted. Whichever equation was used to support an increase in the use of statins, we can only wonder at the mathematical trickery, that can change people who are going to be medicated with statin therapies for their lifetime, into a statistic that has “reduced the need for interventions.”
Statin prescriptions have more than doubled in the UK during the last 8 years. Therapeutic use of statins will usually require the patient to take statins for the rest of their life.
