15.12.16
NHS Wales must speed up electronic prescribing, says auditor general
Welsh NHS bodies are working well together to improve the way medicines are prescribed and managed, but medicines management needs a greater internal push, the auditor general for Wales has concluded.
In a report published today, the auditor also found that NHS Wales can take further steps to improve quality and costs in primary care prescribing, such as improving the storage of medicine, reducing gaps in information about medicines and finally introducing a national electronic prescribing system.
With the demand for medicines growing in Wales – the country has seen a 46% increase in dispensed items over the last decade – the report concludes that strong medicines management is vital for bodies to ensure good patient outcomes and value for money.
The auditor general for Wales, Huw Vaughan Thomas, said: “With over £800m spent on medicines and over 79.5 million different medicines dispensed in the community per year, it is vitally important that the use of medicines is optimised so that patients receive the best possible outcomes.
“It is encouraging to see NHS bodies collaborating well to improve medicines management. My recommendations are designed to strengthen current arrangements further.”
The report, which reviewed primary care prescribing at all health boards in late 2013 and 2014, found that bodies must take more action to ensure medicine-related safety for patients when they transfer between different care settings and be aware of medicine-related hospital admissions.
It concluded that there are opportunities for Welsh health professionals, especially pharmacists, to work with patients to understand their experiences and ensure that they are taking the right medicines appropriately.
The benefits of such an approach, the report suggests, will make medicines safer, reduce waste and have the bonus effect of better health outcomes for patients.
The auditor general recommends that the Welsh government, NHS Wales Informatics and all health bodies should agree a detailed timeframe for implementing electronic prescribing systems, along with a clear process for monitoring progress. It also advised that health bodies should have a targeted plan of action to improve cost and quality when prescribing in primary and second care.
A spokesman for the Welsh government said that it was pleased the report recognised there were many good aspects of medicines management in Wales.
The spokesman added that since last year, the government had made good progress on a number of earlier recommendations by the auditor general and it would respond to the report shortly.
However, Nick Ramsay, chairman of the assembly's public accounts committee was more cautious when responding to the report, saying that it showed there was “still much to do to ensure the safe and cost effective use of medicines in Wales”.
The challenges will be particularly great given the funding challenge that Welsh NHS services face, with a Health Foundation report stating in October predicting a funding shortfall in the NHS in Wales of £700m by 2019-20.
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