Medicines optimisation looks at the value which medicines deliver, making sure they are clinically-effective and cost-effective. It is about ensuring people get the right choice of medicines, at the right time, and are engaged in the process by their clinical team.
The goal of medicines optimisation is to help patients to:
- Improve their outcomes;
- Take their medicines correctly;
- Avoid taking unnecessary medicines;
- Reduce wastage of medicines;
- And improve medicines safety.
Area Prescribing Committee
The County Durham and Tees Valley Area Prescribing Committee (APC) is responsible for approval of new drugs, extending the use of existing formulary drugs to new indications and for the production of the County Durham and Tees Valley Formulary which provides details of medicines approved for use in County Durham, Tees Valley and parts of North Yorkshire. Decisions around new drug requests take into consideration safety, clinical effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness relative to other treatment options for the condition under discussion, as well as the potential available budget. Decisions will be made on fully published trial data only.
Formulary
The County Durham and Tees Valley APC formulary lists the medicines and related pharmaceutical products that are approved for use in the Tees Valley CCG NHS area.
NICE Technology Appraisals
The National Institute for Health and Social Care Excellence use evidence to produce standards and guidance for the NHS and social care to improve outcomes for people. All CCG commissioned medicines with a positive NICE Technology Appraisal are funded, when deemed the appropriate clinical choice for patients, no later than 90 days after NICE publication.
Prescribing Guidelines
Locally developed and approved prescribing guidelines for Tees Valley CCG are published on the North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) Medicines Optimisation website.
Pharmaceutical Company Representatives
Pharmaceutical company representatives wishing to get in contact are asked to email necsu.moadmin@nhs.net