Making the Case for Prescribing Support

Ref: Prescribing Support
Date: 8th January 2007

Southern Norfolk Primary Care Trust has reported savings of more than £140,000 in a year following the introduction of a pioneering technology designed to raise the standards of clinical excellence and reduce the costs of prescribed medicines.

The PCT has rolled the ScriptSwitch system out across 28 of its practices following a successful trial last year, and head of medicines management Cathal Daly believes the system has already added considerable benefit to the organisation – not least because of its seamless integration.

Commenting on the implementation of the system, Cathal said: “The health service is faced with increasingly challenging financial pressures, rising targets and reduced patient consultation time. It was against that background that we began the search for a solution that would communicate key guidance, cost-savings and information to prescribers at exactly the moment they needed it.”

That search led the PCT to discover ScriptSwitch, a unique patented software product that has been developed in partnership with the NHS to improve prescribing whilst saving money.

Having identified ScriptSwitch, it was important that the PCT prescribing team was able to gain budget approval to buy the product. Cathal believes that inviting ScriptSwitch to present the concept and its benefits to key decision makers was a major factor in its success.

He explained: “Building the business case to promote a variety of benefits ranging from clinical excellence through to cost savings was a fundamental part of the process. It enabled us to really demonstrate what the advantages of the system would be to senior management.”

Ease of installation

Once the budget had been approved, the PCTs clinical team dedicated five days to updating and tailoring the local knowledge base, focusing on the most relevant and cost-effective advice for the region. Each set of guidelines was then distilled into clear and concise messages designed to help prescribers make quick, calculated decisions when they needed it.

Then, in consultation with the PCT’s IT team, ScriptSwitch engineers initially installed the product at eight practises to monitor its success, before rolling it out to another 20 practices in the area.

According to Cathal, the compact nature of the software and its compatibility with the three leading clinical systems meant the software took just minutes to install on each computer - causing little or no impact on GPs surgeries.

Cathal confirms: “One of the things that attracted us to the ScriptSwitch system was the ease of installation. Downtime was minimised completely, and that was a key consideration when dealing with busy surgeries.”

It wasn’t just the installation that proved to be no fuss though. The simple on-screen prompting of the system meant minimal training was needed by GPs and prescribing nurses.

Success

Meanwhile, using ScriptSwitch’s centralised reporting facility, the PCT had full access to a number of detailed reports. Cathal is in little doubt that this capability was vital in allowing the PCT to ultimately evaluate the success of the tool by analysing the number of switches, compliance and savings made.

He enthuses: “As an interactive messaging tool it has enabled us to inform prescribers of essential information and guidelines in a clutter-free environment and enable them to action changes with one click. The system acts as a ‘tap on the shoulder’ for GPs during consultation, reminding and updating them of important and potentially life-saving advice.”

Despite the remarkable savings already demonstrated by the system, Cathal is confident the true cost benefit to the PCT is likely to be much higher than the reported £140,000. He explains: “We believe that the real savings are far in excess of this due to acquired learning by GPs who remember switches and begin to prescribe the more cost effective drug as a matter of course.

“But it’s not just about saving money. The technology has enabled us to facilitate best practice across the region, ensuring safer, more appropriate and more cost-effective prescribing. This in turn has allowed the saved funds to be used to improve patient care in other areas. That’s what we were looking for when we first approached ScriptSwitch.”

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