G
gemarriott
Guest
Apologies for this not really being relevant to those in the mob but it does affect families and us old farts.
In the last couple of months I have noticed a marked tightening up of practice in the issue of repeat prescriptions at my local GPs and the replacement of various medications with different pills and the removal completely of other medication.
total withdrawl of co-proximal
eg total withdrawal of NSAIDs from repeat prescribing such as ibuprofen, diclofenac etc until after a fresh patient medical review.
stopping omeprazole etc after a course of treatment rather than keeping a patient on maintenance dose
change of statin to a different variety,
stopping clopidogrel and replacing with aspirin.
At a meeting of our practice commitee I questioned the reasoning behind these changes as I suspected they were cost driven. That is partially true, I was however reassured that in the case of our practice affected patients were all being gven the opportunity to review changes made and if the new medication didn't suit they would revert to the old medication where possible.
The NSAIDs such as brufen were being withdrawn on medical grounds wherever possible because of the dangerous side effects whilst omeprazole was just a cost saving exercise, the cost of the drug outweighs the benefits when used as a prevention rather than as a cure, however patients were reviewed if taken off the medication.
So far our practice has trimmed the annual drug bill by over £70 000 which has to be ploughed back into the surgery but in effect it is an extra junior doctor is in the pipeline making it easier to get an appointment so all in all probably a good thing.
In the last couple of months I have noticed a marked tightening up of practice in the issue of repeat prescriptions at my local GPs and the replacement of various medications with different pills and the removal completely of other medication.
total withdrawl of co-proximal
eg total withdrawal of NSAIDs from repeat prescribing such as ibuprofen, diclofenac etc until after a fresh patient medical review.
stopping omeprazole etc after a course of treatment rather than keeping a patient on maintenance dose
change of statin to a different variety,
stopping clopidogrel and replacing with aspirin.
At a meeting of our practice commitee I questioned the reasoning behind these changes as I suspected they were cost driven. That is partially true, I was however reassured that in the case of our practice affected patients were all being gven the opportunity to review changes made and if the new medication didn't suit they would revert to the old medication where possible.
The NSAIDs such as brufen were being withdrawn on medical grounds wherever possible because of the dangerous side effects whilst omeprazole was just a cost saving exercise, the cost of the drug outweighs the benefits when used as a prevention rather than as a cure, however patients were reviewed if taken off the medication.
So far our practice has trimmed the annual drug bill by over £70 000 which has to be ploughed back into the surgery but in effect it is an extra junior doctor is in the pipeline making it easier to get an appointment so all in all probably a good thing.
DT_Xtremez_34: