The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7198 p694-696
18 May 2002

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European Society of Clinical Pharmacy summary

"Near-to-patient" drug supplies save money

A "near-to-patient" model of drug supply in hospital can produce significant financial savings, reported RICHARD LEE, clinical development nurse, Medicines Management, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust, London.

In this model, nurses administer drugs from bedside cabinets that are used to store patients' medicines (either their own medicines or those supplied by the hospital). This gives patients the opportunity to become familiar with their medicines before discharge and speeds up the discharge process.

Mr Lee presented the results of a financial evaluation of the system. It brought savings of £5 per patient, equating to £100,000 per annum for the trust. Faster discharge also resulted in a saving of 892 bed days per annum.

In addition, the evaluation showed that use of patient packs was cost effective: £190,000 was saved by the National Health Service through the purchase of patient packs by the hospital compared with the costs of these drugs in primary care.