ABSTRACT
The government aims are for pharmacists and nurses to both prescribe and advise patients more, and in view of this they are developing patient group directives and encouraging prescribing incentive schemes. Most Primary Care Groups (PCG)/Ts are supporting practices wishing to reduce prescribing costs, and to further this have set up prescribing indicators using national recommendations. It was noted that two-thirds of all general practitioner (GP) prescriptions were repeats and they represented four-fifths of total prescribing costs. GPs will be aware that their PCG/T has a prescribing strategy, which has usually been discussed and agreed locally with individual or representative GPs. The main issue for GPs is usually target setting: the main hinge for this is the prescribing incentive scheme. It was noted that two-thirds of all GP prescriptions were repeats and they represented four-fifths of total prescribing costs.
