Charlestown Medical Practice: Patient information

Shared care prescribing involves healthcare specialists asking general practitioners (GPs) if they agree to sharing the responsibility for prescribing and monitoring specialist medication for patients.

NHS shared care

GPs can only enter into shared care prescribing agreements with NHS services.

These agreements are supported by local policies, which ensure that:

• Patients are started and stabilised on their medication by the specialist, before asking the GP to take over prescribing responsibility.
• Ongoing specialist reviews are conducted at the hospital.
• GPs can seek advice and support from specialists, as required.

Common health conditions where shared care prescribing is used with NHS services include rheumatoid arthritis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), inflammatory eye disease, gender dysphoria, Parkinson’s disease and inflammatory bowel disease.

Private providers

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of patients accessing private treatment. This has led to patients asking their GP to prescribe specialist medication on behalf of the private provider. This is not the same as NHS shared care agreements.

Patient safety

Patient safety is our priority and we need to be certain that we are prescribing safely. Problems can arise when patients are no longer seeing the private specialist, leaving the GP to prescribe the medication without access to any specialist input. This is risky for patients, and GPs are not insured for these scenarios.

Due to these concerns, gtd healthcare GP practices will not issue prescriptions for new specialist medications initiated by private providers. Patients must obtain prescriptions for these medications directly from their private specialist.

Commissioning

GPs are not funded to carry out non-NHS work. Therefore, at a time of ever-increasing demands on primary care, supporting private prescriptions would result in significant resources being taken from other NHS patients, and promote health inequality.

Summary

• gtd healthcare GP practices will not prescribe new specialist medication on behalf of private providers. This is also the case for those patients who are accessing an assessment through a private provider via the right to choose pathway. It is important to note, while right to choose is funded by the NHS, some of the services are being delivered by private providers. Therefore, the private clinic will remain responsible for prescribing the medication for patients and making sure it is monitored safely.
• We understand this information may be disappointing, but it ensures safe and sustainable care for all our patients.
• We will continue to prescribe where we have already accepted shared care, providing patients remain under specialist review.
• We will continue to refer patients to NHS services and enter shared care prescribing with them, once an appropriate agreement is in place.

Our management of shared care prescribing aligns with the British Medical Association’s guidance, which prioritises patient safety and fair allocation of resources. Further information is available here.

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