GPs in the North-East are finding it difficult to prescribe a new type of drug to prevent blood clots because of funding pressures, according to a new survey.

The survey, carried out by Lifeblood: The Thrombosis Charity, found that 53 per cent of North-East family doctors said they had encountered barriers to prescribing Novel Oral Anti-coagulant (NOAC) blood thinning medicines.

The majority - 77 per cent - said cost restrictions was the main obstacle to patient access.

The medicines watchdog, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, approved NOACs for blood clots in July 2012.

Traditionally patients with potential blood clots would have to attend a hospital to receive blood-thinning injections and then warfarin tablets that require regular visits to hospital for monitoring.

NOACS are taken in tablet form and do not require monitoring.

But a year on 66 per cent of North-East GPs are unaware of this NICE guidance or do not know how to put it into practice.

Professor Beverley Hunt, medical director of Lifeblood, said: "The NHS Constitution grants patients the right to NICE approved medicines if they are clinically appropriate. We have shown today that many eligible patients in the North-East are being denied this fundamental right."

A spokesman for the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Darlington, County Durham and Teesside said: "NICE guidance for the newer anticoagulant drugs has been considered fully and approved for use in accordance with their recommendations. .

"Since the publication of the NICE guidance, usage of these drugs in the North-East has risen significantly as indicated by an increase in spending of 25 per cent (775,000) in 2012 compared to the previous year.

"The development of improved clinical pathways for the management of thrombosis and associated conditions is a priority for all local clinical commissioning groups."