Question: So you said that if you were not a scientist, you would work in politics (and make these policies based on science). Can you give some examples of these policies?

Rebecca Dewey answered on 15 Jun 2015:

One of the ones that’s in the news quite often at the moment is about which drugs and treatments are offered on the NHS and which ones are not. It’s not very easy to decide exactly how much a particular treatment benefits a person, and whether they should be allowed it. We simply don’t have enough money to give everyone everything they want. We get a lot of benefit from being able to hear with two ears. If someone is completely deaf in both ears, they currently can only have a cochlear implant in one ear. Should they be allowed both? If someone is only deaf in one ear, but can hear ok in the other ear, should they get a cochlear implant in the other ear? If a drug only helps 70% of people and is very expensive, should we offer it to everyone just in case it helps? What if it might save their life? What if it only might make their headaches better? What if it makes them live 6 months longer? What if it only works in 30% of people? Very hard decisions!