Repeats make up 80 per cent of all prescriptions

MEASURES are being brought in to the cut the number of repeat prescriptions — which are believed to account for 80 per cent of all those issued in the borough.

The GP prescribing budget has forecast an overspend of £1.87 million this financial year (2011-12).

Problems associated with repeat prescriptions include wastage, patients accumulating lots of medicines in their home, and confusion over which to take.

A series of measures were approved by board members yesterday to tackle the problem and claw back cash. These include:

Asking GPs to review all medicines on repeat prescriptions to ensure they are needed

GP practices to check with patients to ensure what they are ordering has been requested

Patients taking responsibility for ordering their own medicines to reduce the need for pharmacies to order more on behalf of GPs

A publicity campaign highlighting the message to not stockpile or reorder medicines that are not needed.

Shauna Dixon, locality director, said lots of items were being ordered that patients did not need, could not be re-used and needed to be disposed of properly.

She said: “We’re paying for the destruction of medical waste.”

Dr Zuber Ahmed, quality assurance lead, said: “We are looking at how to make prescribing more efficient, how prescriptions are requested in the first place, and to make sure systems are in place that don’t put vulnerable people at risk.”