Matrix Diagnostics

Matrix News

Cheap drugs and fewer antibiotics saves £2million

Suffolk GPs have lowered the cost of prescription medications by almost £2 million, compared to the figures from 2016.

This has been achieved by GPs reducing the number of prescriptions they make for antibiotics, and by prescribing cheaper drugs. It has followed closer scrutiny being given to repeat prescriptions and for ‘delayed’ medication, which is where patients are advised to use prescribed medication only if their problem has not cleared up within a few days. It also means that patients are now being asked to buy over-the-counter painkillers, such as paracetemol, instead of having them prescribed by a GP. This is because a prescription paracetemol can cost up to 20 times more than the price of the same product in a supermarket or high street chemist. According to the recent publication, by the Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), the exact amount saved by GPs in this way is 1,872,436.

Chairman, Paul Driscoll and the medical director of Suffolk GP Federation, said, “Apart from receiving a letter and having a change from one prescription to another, the medication is exactly the same so patients have not been adversely affected. We all understand that we have got to make the best of NHS resources and that’s a responsibility of all of us. I think most people have got that message.”

Savings have also been made by GPs not prescribing special drugs, for example, those that come in liquid form, which can cost as much as £400 per month.

Please Get In Touch

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.