Letters
Privatisation of NHS prescribing
EDITOR, - Iona Heath mentions that prescriptions for NHS patients written privately will no longer appear in the practice's prescribing analysis and cost (PACT) data. This is because such items will not be captured on the database of the Prescription Pricing Authority. The effects are, however, more far reaching than that.Such items will not appear as costs against the practice's prescribing target budget or, in the case of fundholders, against the total fund. The result will be to generate savings, which could be spent elsewhere - for example, on more hospital activity. Such practice gains would not be evenly spread out but would depend on the proportion of patients liable for the prescription charge. Practices in affluent areas stand to gain more, aggravating inequalities in health related to social deprivation.
Many of the management mechanisms used to audit and monitor prescribing, ranging from practices to the NHS Executive, will
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- The creeping privatisation of NHS prescribing
- I Heath
BMJ 1994 309: 623-624.[Extract] [Full Text]
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