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Repeat prescriptions
Insights
General practitioners issued repeat prescriptions at a rate of 41.9 per 1,000 patients. This prescribing rate showed significant variation among doctors and did not correlate with their consultation workload.
Area of Science:
- General Practice
- Pharmacology
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Repeat prescriptions are a cornerstone of ongoing patient care in general practice.
- Understanding prescribing patterns is crucial for efficient healthcare resource allocation.
- Variability in prescribing practices can impact patient outcomes and healthcare costs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the rate and patterns of repeat prescription issuance in general practice.
- To investigate the relationship between repeat prescribing and general practitioner workload.
- To identify demographic characteristics of patients receiving repeat prescriptions.
Main Methods:
- A review of prescription data was conducted over a two-week period.
- Ninety-six general practitioners (GPs) participated, recording consultation and prescription data.
- Data analysis focused on prescription rates per patient list and per consultation.
Main Results:
- The mean repeat prescription rate was 41.9 per 1,000 registered patients (346 per 1,000 consultations).
- A wide variation in prescribing rates was observed among individual GPs.
- Forty-one percent of repeat prescription recipients were aged 65+, and 20% had not seen their doctor in six months.
Conclusions:
- Repeat prescribing rates vary significantly between general practitioners.
- The rate of repeat prescriptions issued does not correlate with the number of consultations undertaken by GPs.
- Further research is needed to understand the drivers of prescribing variation and optimize repeat prescribing practices.
Abstract:
Ninety-six general practitioner recorders undertook an average of 308 consultations in the two weeks reviewed, equivalent to 121 consultations per 1,000 registered patients on the list. The number of patients to whom repeat prescriptions were issued was 10,225.The mean rate of issue of repeat prescriptions was 41.9 per 1,000 list, (346 per 1,000 consultations) though these figures conceal a wide variation between the recorders, 41 per cent of recipients were aged 65+ years and 20 per cent had not been seen by their doctor in the six months prior to receipt. The repeat prescribing rate of individual doctors bears no relation to the workload as measured by the number of consultations undertaken.