£13.4m. drugs bill - waste attacked

GUERNSEY could copy Wales in its attempts to cut drug wastage. Prescription drugs cost the taxpayer more than £13.4m. last year - with the number of items topping the million mark for the first time.

That is an average of 17 prescriptions per person in the 12 months at a cost of £215 per person.

Social Security minister Mary Lowe believes that too many drugs are prescribed unnecessarily.

She believes it could be best to follow the lead taken by Wales and limit GPs to giving only a fortnight's supply of some medications.

'Much of the money is well spent for people who desperately need drugs and I can assure islanders that we will not be cutting drugs which are necessary to treat their health conditions,' said Deputy Lowe.

'But too many items are allocated per prescription which means that when people go for a repeat, they may actually only want two of the three items on the list but they get all three because it is easier just to ask for the same again.

'In addition, we also find that giving a month's supply of some drugs, when only a couple of weeks-worth is necessary, leads to wastage.

'In other places, like Wales, patients are given only a fortnight's supply at a time for certain drugs. There is a strict criterion laid down for the dispensation of each drug and it may be that we need a similar scheme here.'

Spokesman for the local branch of the British Medical Association Dr Brian Parkin said: 'We support measures that genuinely save money. For some drugs it would be OK but for others it could be troublesome, not really for the doctors but for the patients because they will have to come back to pick up a second lot if they do need a month's supply.'

Deputy Lowe said that people did not ask for extra drugs merely to avoid having to pay again to see the doctor.

The UK, she said, had a similar problem even though there was no charge to see a GP.

She added that the drugs-disposal schemes operated by surgeries showed the number of items stored by islanders in case of future need.

Deputy Lowe said that cutting down on the number of drugs prescribed would also cut down the risk of people

hoarding and using them when they were out of date.

The minister said that the department had already taken steps such as introducing a white list of medicines for GPs to prescribe. This is a list of the drugs that can be prescribed at taxpayers' expense. It means that for certain drugs, doctors must use the cheaper generic alternatives rather than the recognised brand names.

'The doctors have been very cooperative and have done very well. We accept that it is an extra pressure on them and that they have to explain to their patients why it is not a recognised brand,' said Deputy Lowe.

She added that the effects of the white list were going to be incremental because as old drugs dropped out of use, newly-marketed ones would be added only if they were considered value for money.

'It is working very well and has been successful, but the only problem is that the prescribing officer who set up this system has since left and a replacement is yet to be found,' said Dr Parkin.

The Social Security and Health and Social Services Departments are set to research further alternatives, including ideas from Wales and Scotland.

The prescription charges for 2005 are set to rise by 10p to £2.40 per item.