The cost of prescribing impotence drugs on the National Health Service is currently running above the Government's spending target. Pharmacists are being urged to check that all prescriptions they receive are correctly endorsed by the prescriber.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee's latest newsletter (Issue 5/6, 2000) says that current prescribing by general medical practitioners has reached almost £16m. The Government had set a spending ceiling of between £10m and £12m for prescribing by both GPs and specialists.
The PSNC says that pharmacists should ensure that all prescriptions for erectile dysfunction treatments are endorsed "SLS" by the prescriber. Prescriptions not endorsed in this way could be returned to health authorities unpaid with a copy sent to pharmacy contractors.