Advising on Drugs

Graham Parsons has been stopped from being a member of the government’s drug advisory panel. He’s the chief pharmacist at a leading addiction service, so it isn’t his expert qualification that’s in doubt. the problem, apparently, is that between 2010 and 2013 he posted critical tweets about Jeremy Hunt. For those who’ve forgotten that time, he wasn’t alone. Hunt’s management of the NHS was abrasive and controversial, seriously damaging morale within the service, and many people from many walks of life were seriously critical of the tactical choices that Hunt made.

The interesting question is how this connects with the quality of drugs advice seven years later. And the answer, sadly, is in the title of the panel, and the virtual death of the word “advisory.” Back in the day, governments recognised that they couldn’t be expert in everything, so it would help to have real experts, people who knew stuff, to offer them advice. Things have changed. Now, “we” know all that we need to know, and we want panels of people who think we’re right. If they think we can make mistakes, we don’t want to hear from them, because things get complicated if you have to change your mind. It’s obviously illogical, but it’s also wasteful - drugs are complicated, and complicated problems won’t get solved by simple people who are sure they’ve got the answers.