PJ Online | Prescribing & Medicines Management (March/April 2003)

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Prescribing & Medicines Management
Issue no 2, p3
March/April 2003

Comment

Implications of two news stories in this issue of P&MM should be considered together. The first is the report from the first year of the medicines management collaborative (front page); the second, the latest bulletin from the Audit Commission on primary care prescribing (see left).

Prescribing in collaborative practices showed marked improvements which, as well as benefiting patients, had cost-saving implications for their PCTs. The need to save costs was echoed by the Audit Commission which said that improved efficiency in prescribing could save more than £130 million during the next three years. PCT management boards who have not already ensured that medicines management projects are up and running should listen to this advice carefully. Improvements in prescribing are not rocket science. It may mean simply being more careful about what items are ordered for repeat dispensing, for example.

Pharmacists have an important role to play in improving the quality of prescribing, but they are not the only people.

The old adage "waste not, want not" was never more the case.

If this is the first copy of Medicines Management you have seen and would like to join the mailing list, please send your details to pmm@rpsgb.org.uk. Free copies are available for all pharmacists (please include your registration number) and for nurses and doctors with a professional interest in medicines management.