§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of patient compliance on the cost-effectiveness of general practitioner prescribing. [6733]
§ Mr. MaloneMy Department has recently begun to commission studies on prescribing. One of the priority areas is patient adherence or compliance.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a full copy of the protocols on which the Prodigy prescribing trial is based, indicating the medicines listed by Prodigy. [6735]
§ Mr. MaloneThe guidelines used in the trials will be published with the first interim report which is due in mid-year 1996.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the results of the Prodigy evaluation, including changes in health care delivery and health outcomes before any decision is taken on whether to extend it; and if he will list those responsible for evaluating the project, indicating what expert advice will he taken. [6737]
§ Mr. MaloneProdigy is a research and development project, which is being independently evaluated by the Sowerby unit for primary care informatics at Newcastle university. Findings and expert references will be published along with the evaluation report. Future decisions on the project will be taken in the light of the research findings.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the GP practices in which the Prodigy prescribing system is being piloted. [6732]
§ Mr. MaloneIt is considered inappropriate, at this stage of the research project, to make public the names of the general practitioners who have volunteered to participate.
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§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the cost of the Prodigy pilot; and if he will estimate the cost of installing such a system for all GPs.[6736]
§ Mr. MaloneThe Department of Health is investing an estimated £1.5 million in the project. In addition, some development costs are being met by the participating information technology software companies. Future implementation costs will depend on the findings of the evaluation and subsequent decisions.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health to what extent health outcomes will form part of the evaluation of the Prodigy pilot prescribing system. [6734]
§ Mr. MaloneThe initial phase of Prodigy is designed to test the concept of computer-aided prescribing decision support, the acceptability of such systems to general practitioners, and the impact on their prescribing and patient consultations.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many medicines(a) are listed in the British national formulary, (b) have product licences in the UK and (c) are listed in the choice options in the pilot prescribing system, Prodigy. [6738]
§ Mr. MaloneApproximately 900 medical substances and 4,000 individual preparations are listed in the British national formulary. There are currently around 17,000 granted marketing authorisations or product licences in the United Kingdom. The Prodigy system currently provides around 600 drug choices, plus an option to access all drugs within GPs' existing computerised systems.