Support for prescribers
Did you know?
- 1 billion NHS prescription items are dispensed in primary care each year, costing £9.2bn
- Between 2003 and 2013, the average number of prescription items a year for every person in England increased from 13 to 19
- Hospital medicines currently cost £7.6 billion a year, an increase of one third from 2011
NHS England has commissioned the Specialist Pharmacy Service to provide prescribers with all the support they need to:
- Stop prescribing medicines which are not clinically-effective or cost-effective
- Provide clear information to patients to help them make meaningful choices and decisions about their treatment
- Help people to get the benefits they want from their prescribed medicines
- Encourage people to ‘self-care’ and choose not to take a medicine if they don’t really need one
- Take positive action to reduce waste so we stop throwing away so many medicines