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Pharmacy in Practice

EDX/20/1154
Date of prep: December 2020

Prescribing information and
adverse events reporting

For healthcare professionals only

Scottish NHS board requests ‘do not prescribe’ list to save £300,000 per year

14th December 2019 by PIP editor Leave a Comment

 

A health board has called for NHS Scotland to bring in ‘do not prescribe’ lists to stop doctors prescribing medicines that are less effective or are available over-the-counter at pharmacies.

 

NHS Ayrshire & Arran estimates this would save the health board around £300,000 a year.

 

In a submission to a Holyrood enquiry, Ayrshire & Arran health officials say the list would include medicines that “have limited clinical effectiveness and/or do not require a prescription because they are available for patients to buy.”

 

A similar scheme already exists in the NHS in England.

 

Four of the top ten most commonly prescribed items in Scotland are available over the counter at a pharmacist.

 

Nearly three million co-codamol prescriptions were dispensed last year at a cost of just under £12m, suggesting the health service pays more than £4 per packet.

 

Items on the do not prescribe list south of the border include quick-release fentanyl that is deemed less safe that newer versions of the drug and creams used to treat musculoskeletal pain that are available over the counter in pharmacies.

 

Certain types of needles for Insulin pens were also added this year because of huge cost variations.

 

Prices ranged from less than £3 for 100 needles all the way up to £30.

 

Ayrshire & Arran health board also calls for a “significant commitment and investment” into prescribing data-tracking.

 

It says the current system is “disjointed” and leads to gaps between GPs, community pharmacies and hospitals.

 

 

This story was supplied as part of our partnership with healthandcare.scot. 

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Filed Under: Scotland

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