ScriptSwitch has added prescribing advice for GPs and nurses on issuing dressings and appliances to its prescribing decision-support software.
The company says that dressing and appliances form a huge area for potential savings with 22m items issued last year, accounting for a net ingredient cost of £480m.
The ability to make prescribing switches on dressings and appliances was successfully deployed at ScriptSwitch beta sites in North Wales last month. The company says the functionality will be available for general use from early October.
ScriptSwitch’s head of medicines management Martyn Carroll believes that an increasing range of new products, coupled with associated rising costs, means there is a genuine need for objective information to support prescribing of dressings and appliances: “Clinicians have indicated that they would like to see decision support information in the area of dressings and appliances, and we are delighted to be able to offer this service and make ScriptSwitch a multidisciplinary tool.”
Carroll said although many PCTs are developing their own formularies, they don’t currently have the ability to provide up-to-the-minute information and advice on usage at the actual point of prescribing.
He added: “Advisors can’t be there to sit by a GP or nurse 24 hours a day to remind them of what is in the formulary and what cost effective decisions are available, so this is an untapped area. We are sure that the added functionality will be extremely well received by both new and existing customers alike.”
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