Expenditure on medicines is rising as new therapies are developed and as more patients are being treated. These cost pressures need to be viewed as part of the overall package of patient care - for some conditions, medicines expenditure should be rising because an increase in spending provides a cost-effective way of increasing health gain for the population.
This report has important strategic recommendations for the Department of Health and the National Assembly for Wales (the National Assembly). But it is primarily aimed at board members of NHS trusts, and concentrates on the issues that they have to address. It has two aims:
- to raise the profile of medicines management in hospitals.
- to make the case for providing adequate investment to enable standards to be raised
All members of the clinical team need to work together to manage medicines effectively. Non-clinical staff too have to ensure effective financial management, procurement and logistics. But before they can succeed, there are systemic and resource issues that boards must address.
The strategic challenges facing boards are described, together with the main obstacles and possible solutions. They should use this report to identify how well their hospital manages medicines, what the most important local priorities are, and how to deliver them.