being cost effective and quality care, any conflict?

Answer 1

I believe the two go hand in hand - quality care can be provided that is also cost effective. By reviewing prescribing for quality issues, if done rationally, frequently overall you can also provide savings (in reasonable sized patient group).

Answer 2

My role as a GP has changed dramatically over 30 years. A good percentage of the medicines we used then are not in use at all now.

Overall I am in favour of ' prescribing by committee '. I don't think we as GPs have a right to decide, just using our own experience, what is the most appropriate drug to prescribe.

Generally I have found that the recommended drugs are every bit as effective as the more expensive ones that the pharmaceutical companies would love us to use.

We do as gate-keepers for the NHS also definitely have a duty to try and be frugal with it's limited resources and I have no argument with that either.

It all breaks down however when we see Government and NHS administrators shovel money into useless pits every day! Believe me they really do, and to be frank this Labour Government has far surpassed any levels of waste in the NHS ever produced before.