What can PACT tell us about prescribing in general practice?
BMJ 1997; 315 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.315.7121.1515 (Published 06 December 1997) Cite this as: BMJ 1997;315:1515
- Azeem Majeed, senior lecturer in general practice (a.majeed@sghms.ac.uk)a,
- Norman Evans, pharmaceutical adviserb,
- Paula Head, head of pharmacyc
- a Division of General Practice and Primary Care, St George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE
- b Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority, Wilson Hospital, London CR4 4TP
- c Kingston&Richmond Health Authority, 22 Hollyfield Road, Surbiton KT5 9AL
- Correspondence to: Dr Majeed
- Accepted 22 August 1997
Introduction
Prescribing is important to general practitioners. Most consultations with a general practitioner result in a prescription being issued, and in 1995 general practitioners in the United Kingdom issued about 550 million prescriptions. The total cost of these prescriptions was £4700m, 11% of all NHS spending in 1995. Unsurprisingly, the general practice prescribing budget is seen by many managers and health economists as an area where there is scope for considerable savings through more cost effective prescribing.1 2 Hence, general practitioners are likely to be increasingly called on to defend their prescribing patterns.
Summary points
PACT (prescribing analyses and cost) data are derived from prescriptions issued by general practitioners
PACT data have been used by health authorities as a managerial tool, by health services researchers, and, more recently, by general practitioners to audit and to help improve their prescribing
The recent availability of electronic PACT data on the prescribing of individual drugs has allowed health authorities to look at prescribing in more detail and to develop prescribing indicators
To make more effective use of PACT, general practitioners who wish to examine their prescribing in more detail should be given access to electronic PACT data and be trained in its analysis and interpretation
In England the main source of information on general practitioners' prescribing is PACT (prescribing analyses and cost), and similar schemes exist in Scotland and Wales. Although PACT was first introduced in 1988, many general practitioners have made little use of PACT data. Because of the importance and potential value of such data, general practitioners need to be aware of the information available via PACT and how this information is used by health authorities' medical and pharmaceutical advisers. Moreover, as more general practitioners become involved in commissioning health services, either as fundholders or through local commissioning, they will need to make …