Generic medication

Following on from a comment on the 'antibiotics' posting, a bit about generic medication. Wherever possible, RMC tries to use generic medication, rather than branded. The active ingredient in the drug is exactly the same, but there is a significant financial saving with generic drugs (e.g. the migraine drug 'sumatriptan' costs £13.60 for 6 tablets as a generic and £42.90 for the same as a branded drug). The current climate would suggest, at best, minimal further cash for the NHS over the next few years, and we must look to provide value for money to the tax payer. Money diverted away from drug company profits can be spent elsewhere on patient care. At RMC we would spend somewhere in the region of £250k a year on drugs and work within a tight budget. The NHS inspects our prescribing each month and there is an annual visit from the health authority to discuss our performance and value for money (next interrrogation is in February). Our practice has above average rates of generic prescribing compared to North Yorkshire and nationally, and our drug waste (unused drugs returned) is fairly small. Our prescribing spend per person is adjusted to account for a more elderly population and is usually less than the national average each month, although our quality score for clinical treatment was 100% last year, showing that we can achieve good quality care and good value for money!