The Bridgend East Cluster Repeat Prescription Ordering Hub (RxSOS) is a call centre located within the Glanrhyd Hospital site. The Hub offers a telephone ordering service for the patients of five practices (~75,000 patient population) from within the East Cluster to order their repeat medication. Through having a conversation with the patient, when they call the Hub at a time that is convenient to them (between the hours of 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday), the trained call handlers can ascertain their true need. The call handler consistently delivers a structured intervention to check which items are required during a five-minute (approximate) telephone call, before generating the prescription.
The Hub has been designed to:
In summary, the Hub can demonstrate a cluster prescribed item reduction of 1.69% (40,470 items) for the 18 months it has been in operation. This equates to £327,174 of cost savings (£218,116 per annum). The maximal cost of running the Hub has been calculated to be £178,102.68. Therefore, the savings generated are in the region of £40,013.32, after all costs. If factoring in predicted prescription growth for the cluster, the cost avoidance attributed to the Hub is in the region of £441,165 (£294,109.99 per annum). After subtracting the cost of running the Hub, the cost avoidance is estimated to be in the region of £116,007.31, after all costs.
In terms of patient safety, this saving in the East Cluster drug budget has been achieved through reducing the over ordering of medications, i.e. medicines waste. Not through de-prescribing or austerity measures. Without the Repeat Prescription Ordering Hub, the additional medicines would likely be in patients homes. Therefore, creating an environment of increased risk to the patient. The patient safety ramifications of this project are thought to be significant.
