Moving from policy to reality: how was it for you?
2
pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety 2005; 14: 143–144 Published online 23 September 2004 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/pds.1015 SHORT REPORT Moving from policy to reality: how was it for you? { Rachel Howard* Nottingham Primary Care ResearchPartnership, Broxtowe and Hucknall PCT, Hucknall Health Centre, Nottingham, UK In the UK, dramatic changes are being made to the healthcare system, with the aim of improving the quality of patient care. The 15th annual scientific meeting of the UK and Ireland Drug Utilisation Research Group focused on two of these changes, the implementation of supplementary prescribing and the new general practitioner contract (nGMS) in the UK as well as original research aimed at improv- ing the quality of care in the UK. Supplementary prescribing (prescribing by non- doctors) is intended to assist in the continuing care of patients with chronic conditions. At present, the scheme includes nurses and pharmacists, who can prescribe from a restricted list of drugs. Over the next few years, this will be expanded to other allied healthcare professionals. Evaluation of supplementary prescribing by nurses has raised a number of issues around the organisation of the scheme, which could help inform the introduction of supplementary pre- scribing in other professions/countries. The nGMS contract is based upon the Primary Care Clinical Effectiveness (PRICCE) project, which has been successful in improving the quality of prescribing and patient care in general practice in East Kent, England. However, cautions have been raised as a result of PRICCE around increasing costs and the need for strong IT support. The nGMS contract will rely on high quality data recording to ensure that general practitioners (GPs) hit targets and get paid for their work. In light of this, two presentations concentrated on ways to improve data recording. The first presented a new database, ‘Vision’, which contains anonymised data on 3% of patients in England and Wales. It was thought that this database could be used to identify patients in need of follow-up, and there- fore help GPs hit the targets required by nGMS. The second presented data from the TADpole project on inequalities in diabetic care. TADpole showed that a patient-centred approach, including staff and patient education, improved recording of cholesterol and blood-pressure checks. This improved recording will be vital in receiving funding through nGMS. A third presentation discussed the implications of nGMS on information technology services in the UK and introduced the concept of the ‘NHS care record’. This will be an electronic record, initially consisting of medications and allergies, which will be made available to all relevant healthcare practitioners to help ensure the continuity and safety of patient care in the NHS. It is hoped that this will reduce problems associated with inadequate communication of patient information, and will help facilitate the electronic transfer of prescriptions in the UK. With the proposed improvement in the patient electronic record and better data recording, it should become easier to identify patients at risk of medication harm by searching these records. Dr Morris presented work aimed at reducing the risk of drug-related problems through the use of prescribing indicators. Prescribing indicators were used to search electronic GP databases for patients who have suffered a drug-related injury. Once identified, any remaining drug-related problems can then be rectified, reducing the risk of future problems. This methodology could be expanded Received 29 July 2004 Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 3 August 2004 * Correspondence to: Rachel Howard, Nottingham Primary Care Research Partnership, Broxtowe and Hucknall PCT, Hucknall Health Centre, Nottingham, NG15 7JE, UK. E-mail: [email protected] { Report on the 15th Annual Scientific Meeting of the UK Drug Utilisation Research Group, Thursday 29th January 2004, Nottingham.
-
Upload
rachel-howard -
Category
Documents
-
view
214 -
download
1
Transcript of Moving from policy to reality: how was it for you?
pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety 2005; 14: 143–144Published online 23 September 2004 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/pds.1015
SHORT REPORT
Moving from policy to reality: how was it for you?{
Rachel Howard*
Nottingham Primary Care Research Partnership, Broxtowe and Hucknall PCT, Hucknall Health Centre, Nottingham, UK
In the UK, dramatic changes are being made to thehealthcare system, with the aim of improving thequality of patient care. The 15th annual scientificmeeting of the UK and Ireland Drug UtilisationResearch Group focused on two of these changes,the implementation of supplementary prescribingand the new general practitioner contract (nGMS) inthe UK as well as original research aimed at improv-ing the quality of care in the UK.Supplementary prescribing (prescribing by non-
doctors) is intended to assist in the continuing care ofpatients with chronic conditions. At present, thescheme includes nurses and pharmacists, who canprescribe from a restricted list of drugs. Over the nextfew years, this will be expanded to other alliedhealthcare professionals. Evaluation of supplementaryprescribing by nurses has raised a number of issuesaround the organisation of the scheme, which couldhelp inform the introduction of supplementary pre-scribing in other professions/countries.The nGMS contract is based upon the Primary Care
Clinical Effectiveness (PRICCE) project, which hasbeen successful in improving the quality of prescribingand patient care in general practice in East Kent,England. However, cautions have been raised as aresult of PRICCE around increasing costs and theneed for strong IT support. The nGMS contract willrely on high quality data recording to ensure that
general practitioners (GPs) hit targets and get paidfor their work. In light of this, two presentationsconcentrated on ways to improve data recording. Thefirst presented a new database, ‘Vision’, which containsanonymised data on 3% of patients in England andWales. It was thought that this database could be usedto identify patients in need of follow-up, and there-fore help GPs hit the targets required by nGMS. Thesecond presented data from the TADpole project oninequalities in diabetic care. TADpole showed that apatient-centred approach, including staff and patienteducation, improved recording of cholesterol andblood-pressure checks. This improved recording willbe vital in receiving funding through nGMS. A thirdpresentation discussed the implications of nGMS oninformation technology services in the UK andintroduced the concept of the ‘NHS care record’. Thiswill be an electronic record, initially consisting ofmedications and allergies, which will be madeavailable to all relevant healthcare practitioners tohelp ensure the continuity and safety of patient care inthe NHS. It is hoped that this will reduce problemsassociated with inadequate communication of patientinformation, and will help facilitate the electronictransfer of prescriptions in the UK.With the proposed improvement in the patient
electronic record and better data recording, it shouldbecome easier to identify patients at risk of medicationharm by searching these records. Dr Morris presentedwork aimed at reducing the risk of drug-relatedproblems through the use of prescribing indicators.Prescribing indicatorswere used to search electronicGPdatabases for patients who have suffered a drug-relatedinjury. Once identified, any remaining drug-relatedproblems can then be rectified, reducing the risk offuture problems. This methodology could be expanded
Received 29 July 2004Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 3 August 2004
*Correspondence to: Rachel Howard, Nottingham Primary CareResearchPartnership, Broxtowe andHucknall PCT,HucknallHealthCentre, Nottingham, NG15 7JE, UK.E-mail: [email protected]{Report on the 15th Annual Scientific Meeting of the UKDrug Utilisation Research Group, Thursday 29th January 2004,Nottingham.
to include a range of drug-related problems, and can beused to prospectively identify patients at risk of drug-related injury as well as those who have alreadyexperienced harm. Hopefully it will prove to be a usefultool in protecting patients from drug-related injury.
The combination of policy-based and originalresearch presentations gave an expansive overview ofdevelopments in the quality of UK healthcare.Many ofthese initiatives could be developed in other countrieswith a general practice based healthcare system.
144 r. howard
Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 2005; 14: 143–144
