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Improving the experience of obtaining repeat complex paediatric prescriptions in the UK

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Yincent TseORCiD

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Abstract

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. In the UK, medicines for chronic conditions in children and young people (CYP) are typically initiated within secondary or tertiary care, with responsibility for ongoing supply often then passed to the child's general practitioner (GP) and community pharmacist. The patient should then be reviewed in regular specialist clinics, with two-way communication for any changes in medications or clinical status undertaken between primary and secondary/tertiary care. This arrangement allows long-term medications to be obtained close to home.Although this is what parents expect, the reality is often messy, with families regularly needing to source some medicines from the GPs and others via hospitals or homecare services. In addition, these arrangements are not uniform, they vary across different areas of the UK and depend on individual GP or hospital prescriber acceptance. When neither primary, secondary or tertiary care accepts it is their responsibility to prescribe, or patients are under multiple specialists, families often feel left to navigate this complex and variable supply system themselves. Obtaining a prescription is only the start of the process for families as dispensing from a community pharmacy can also be challenging.In this article, we set out the barriers and potential solutions to this complex issue. We use the term specialist prescribers to include not only paediatricians but all other specialists looking after CYP including child and adolescent psychiatrists, ophthalmologists, dermatologists, surgeons, etc, as well as non-medical prescribers.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Tse Y, Trivedi A, Mee A, Santosh P, Moss J, Batra D, Hawcutt DB, Tomlin S

Publication type: Review

Publication status: Published

Journal: Archives of Disease in Childhood

Year: 2022

Volume: 107

Issue: 11

Pages: 963-966

Print publication date: 01/11/2022

Online publication date: 25/01/2022

Acceptance date: 24/12/2021

ISSN (print): 0003-9888

ISSN (electronic): 1468-2044

Publisher: NLM (Medline)

URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-320912

DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2020-320912

PubMed id: 35078763

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