INTEGRATING CLINICAL PHARMACISTS INTO THE PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE TEAM - A FRAMEWORK FOR RATIONAL AND COST-EFFECTIVE PRESCRIBING

A recent Audit Commission report into general practice prescribing ide ntifies areas where general practitioner and pharmacist collaboration could be beneficial. Two such areas ar formulary development and repea t prescribing review. Increased generic prescribing is encouraged in t he report and in central priorities for Scottish Health Boards. This s tudy was designed to develop and assess the effects on prescribing, of a practice formulary and a procedure for change to generic name presc ribing. A practice formulary, standards for generic name prescribing a nd ail approach to prescribing review were agreed, developed and imple mented. Formulary compliance and the extent of prescribing generically and of changes to generic prescriptions were assessed by prospective prescription monitoring. Consultations resulting in a prescription red uced from 69% to 59% and 80% of acute prescribing events were met from 144 formulary, medicines. Rapid change to generic name prescriptions was achieved without patient complaints and the overall generic prescr ibing level increased from 57% to 68%. Eighty percent of all new presc riptions were generic.