£294,000 – cost of Angus painkiller prescriptions

Bid to engage with public to reduce money spent on over-the-counter medications

More than £230,000 was spent prescribing paracetamol to Angus patients in 2017.

The cost of the cheap, over-the-counter drug, is adding to a massive extra £21 million prescription cost to the county which is 14% above the national average. A further £63,000 was spent prescribing ibuprofen, another lowcost, readily-available drug

Angus Health and Social Care Partnership chief officer Vicky Irons said the body will engage directly with the public in a bid to cut down the “medicines waste”.

She said: “At the end of 2017, average Angus costs per weighted population were around 14% above the national average.

“The relative position in Angus did continue to weaken compared with other parts of Scotland during 2017-18.”

Other factors contributing to the overspend, such as local use of some short-supply mental health drugs, will also be examined.

A £50,000 funding injection is to be used in a bid to shake off Angus’s prescribing sick man of Scotland tag.

The funding pot was signed off following data revealing £294,000 was spent on paracetamol and ibuprofen in 2017.

At the end of 2017, Angus costs were 14% above the national average – an additional budgetary burden of around £21 million.

The costs associated with prescribing the basic painkillers are to be the first strand of the public engagement strategy aimed at getting local residents to think about the part they can play in tackling the problem.

A proposed monthly programme of media releases and presence at public events throughout the year will be key to highlighting the scale of savings required to manage prescribing overspends.

Angus Health and Social Care Partnership (AHSCP) chief officer Vicky Irons said: “Between January and December 2017, Angus spent £230,798 on paracetamol and £63,310 on ibuprofen alone.

“From June onward we wish to promote the scale of medicines waste in Angus and we are in discussion regarding measuring and publicly sharing the volumes of medicines returned unused to community pharmacies in Angus, the reasons for the waste, and actions people can take to support us to reduce.”

She added that Angus Integrated Joint Board (IJB) remains a significant outlier, both in Tayside and Scotland, regarding prescribing costs per weighted population.

She said: “At the end of 2017, average Angus costs per weighted population were around 14% above the national average.

“The relative position in Angus did continue to weaken compared with other parts of Scotland during 2017-18.”

The report said some of the Angus bill could be explained by the disproportionate local impact of national pricing effects, but the area’s continued position so far above the national average was said to be a reflection of “the challenges of translating a comprehensive prescribing action plan into sustainable financial improvement”.

Arbroath East and Lunan councillor Derek Wann, said: “I agreed to the request for funding of £50,000 to support local initiatives to address the prescribing overspends – however, I will be seeking assurances that this money will be well spent and efforts to reduce the spending on prescribing are reported back regularly.”

He added: “It is extremely important that this spend is brought back into line with budget as it not only effects the Angus Integrated Joint Board budget, but also that of the NHS Tayside and possibly Angus Council.”

jimillar@thecourier.co.uk

“Between January and December 2017, Angus spent £230,798 on paracetamol and £63,310 on ibuprofen alone. VICKY IRONS ANGUS HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PARTNERSHIP