Patient anonymised data was obtained from NHSBSA which showed the total number of items, cost and quantity of medicines dispensed for patients at practice level in a 12month period. This allowed identification of large numbers of patients (approx. 6%) dispensed excessive quantities of medications, including items such as DOACs which pose safety risks for patients. We felt that oversupply of medicines to many patients was exposing patients to risk, and likely wastage of medicines which is not a good use of NHS resources or in-line with the NHS Green plan.
The causes of the medicines oversupply were more complex than we initially thought. In order to identify the issues we undertook a baseline audit of repeat prescribing processes in a selection of practices across NCL and identified a number of potential contributory factors that are associated with an increased risk of oversupply. Contributory factors identified so far included un-synchronised medicines and repeat dispensing prescriptions. We are currently working on solutions in consultation with GP practices to tackle the issues.
