GPs' overhaul of repeat prescriptions saves £280k

A GP practice saved £280,000 by cutting medicines waste since an overhaul of the way repeated prescriptions are issued.

Doctors at Somerset's Frome Medical Centre launched a review to stop drugs being repeated routinely, which saved 22,000 items annually.

The surgery also became the second in England to have "proxy access" via the NHS App, which allows carers rather than pharmacies to order repeat prescriptions on behalf of loved ones.

GP Neha Bhagi, who works at the medical centre, said the app allows doctors to have greater control and scrutiny over repeat prescriptions.

Proxy access on the official NHS App allows people to access GP records of another person, enabling them to order repeat prescriptions, book appointments and view parts of their medical record.

The surgery is also backing Somerset's Show me your meds campaign, which is also having a big impact.

Every day, a car boot full of medicine is brought to Frome Medical Centre under the scheme, which encourages patients to return unused medicines.

The practice said the reduction in overprescribing had saved 122 tonnes of CO₂ emissions - the equivalent of driving 301,980 miles (485,989km).

"Previously, you may have had third parties requesting medications on patients' behalf," said Bhagi.

"We worked very closely with our local pharmacies and our patient groups to enable our patients to request medications they need and they actually use, and this has highlighted various aspects around safety.

"So, for example, if a patient is overdosing on items like an inhaler, which we found, then it gives us the opportunity to speak to the patient as to why that may be the case," added Bhagi.

Former NHS biochemist Marion Gore, who is 103 and lives in Frome, said that with help from the app, which is used by her daughter Sheila Gore, she only takes the tablets she really needs.

"Two of the things I hate are inefficiency and waste, and what I hate is over-ordering," Gore said.

"I know a lot of that goes on because I worked in a hospital. There's a lot of that in medicine."

She said she cannot use the app, so the fact that her daughter can do it for her "is extremely fortunate".

For patients who struggle with technology, the practice provides digital face-to-face support in the community, a service which digital community connector Will Palmer said has been used by 4,000 patients so far.

It can be accessed at places such as supermarkets, and Palmer said of the 30,000 patients who use the practice, 78% now use the NHS app, compared with a 70% average across England.

Palmer added: "There's all sorts of digital support, whether someone who is living in digital poverty who doesn't have a device or data, and also those who live in digital fear, the digitally excluded who are frightened of their devices."

According to the NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board, NHS Somerset is benchmarked as the highest in the country for reducing inappropriate over-prescribing.

It said in Somerset, pharmacies spend £300,000 a day dispensing 30,000 prescription items - but about 5% of these go unused or are thrown away, wasting £5m every year in the county alone.

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