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Prescribing and Medicines Management

 

Prescribing and medicines management is a regionally led and coordinated workstream.  It is a key priority identified in the regional  Towards Excellence programme.

 

Background & Vision

Prescribing and medicines account for around 12% of the total NHS budget, and there is a wide variation in prescribing practice and use of medicines across the East Midlands.

The Medicines & Prescribing workstream aims to maximise the clinical and cost effective purchase & use of medicines in the East Midlands:

  • without adverse impact on quality and safety,
  • using projects to improve consistency and promote the best use of medicines.

 

The workstream aims to enable savings of £33m for LHCs in the East Midlands over the next four years, with savings in each LHC ranging from £1.4m to £13.3m

 

Scope

The aim of the project is to maximise the clinical and cost effective purchase & use of medicines in the East Midlands without adverse impact on quality and safety.

The National medicines use and procurement workstream provides a framework for the SHA workstream.

 

Objectives

There are five objectives to deliver the prescribing & medicines workstream vision, each with accompanying standards

1.    To review procurement opportunities within Primary and Secondary care to increase efficiency

2.    To realise cost savings from improving performance against the Better Care: Better Value  and  other local prescribing indicators

3.    To improve the commissioning of medicines services to ensure medicines are used in line with the standards set by NICE & local commissioning policy.

4.    To deliver a patient engagement programme  to encourage self-care, improve concordance and reduce the amount of medicines wasted  across hospitals and community settings

5.    To develop joint medicines commissioning policies to improve consistent high quality use of medicines. e.g. Regional area prescribing committee policy on traffic light medicines.

 

 

Benefits & Outcomes

Patient Experience:

  • Improved patient satisfaction  as a result of increased concordance
  • Maintain or improve outcomes from medicines through improved patient concordance
  • Improved patient experience as a result of implementing recommendations in the review of medicines use & services

 

Patient Safety:

  • Increased patient safety by improving quality and consistency of prescribing medicines

 

Effectiveness:

  • Improved quality of prescribing by promoting evidenced based, clinical & cost-effective medicines use
  • Increased consistency of prescribing by promoting evidenced based, clinical & cost-effective medicines use
  • Improve health through the use of medicines e.g. maximising numbers receiving preventative treatment

 

Productivity & Efficiency:

  • Reduction in expenditure on medicines within the East Midlands including:
  • Reduction in the amount of medicines waste through engagement with patients, carers and clinicians
  • Reduced hospital admissions related to the adverse effects of medicines
  • Improved performance management of commissioning policies will ensure medicines are used within the indications agreed through NICE / local agreements.
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