Choosing Wisely

Choosing Wisely – thank you for sharing your views on proposed changes to local healthcare in Kingston

Changes to prescriptions – governing body meeting decision taken on 5th September 2017

A decision was taken at Kingston CCG’s governing body meeting in public, that the CCG no longer supports the routine NHS prescribing of the following products:

• Prescriptions for gluten free food
• Prescriptions for vitamin D maintenance
• Prescriptions for medicines which are available over the counter

These decisions were taken following an engagement exercise (Choosing Wisely) which took place between March 15^th 2017 to July 14^{th 2017}, (with a pause between April 20^th and June 8^th for the General Election). A detailed report on the engagement findings is available in the right hand column of this page.

The findings from the engagement exercise indicate that those who responded supported proposed changes to prescribing in Kingston. However, the strength of support varied for individual proposals and specific concerns were expressed across each of the prescribing-related proposals. 

The main areas of concern linked to the proposals are:

• The longer term impact on both patients and local NHS services if individuals were not able to maintain the appropriate diet and supplementation.
• To ensure vulnerable groups within Richmond’s population are protected and able to continue to access the care they need.
• Potential negative impact on health inequalities across the borough
• The need for the CCG to lead in supporting and providing clear and accessible information to patients, public, service providers and healthcare professionals about the implementation of any of the proposals if agreed.

 Prescriptions for baby milk

As part of the Choosing Wisely engagement, Kingston CCG also looked at the option of reducing prescriptions for baby milks and specialist infant formula. However, during the engagement exercise we received feedback from a number of sources about the complex nature of milk allergy. As a result, for now we will focus on developing improved guidelines and education for GPs and other healthcare professionals to advise when prescribing is suitable or not. These resources will be developed with dieticians, other healthcare professionals and stakeholders including Allergy UK and will be supported with patient information.