Dan Neville
Question:106 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Health and Children the progress, if any, made in implementing the recommendations of the Review of Indicative and Target Savings Scheme Report No. 28/98 of March 1998. [11140/99]
Written Answers. - Indicative Drug Target Scheme.
I presume the Deputy is referring to the report of the review group on the indicative drug target scheme, the Murphy report.
The IDTS was introduced in 1993 to encourage rational and cost effective prescribing by general practitioners in the interests of improved patient care. Savings from the scheme are allocated to practice development projects and to investment in general practice projects. The review group, which was chaired by Professor Michael Murphy, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, University College, Cork, was asked to provide an independent evaluation of the effect of the IDTS on the quality of patient care with particular reference to changing patterns of prescribing. The principal findings of the review group were that while there were changes in prescribing behaviour as a result of the IDTS, resulting in reduced drug costs, there were no discernible negative effects in overall quality of prescribing.
Progress has been made with regard to a number of recommendations made by the review group. The recommendation with regard to informing patients of the scheme has been taken into account in discussions on the scheme. Work is well advanced on the introduction of a unique patient identifier for general medical services patients and on the separation of pharmacists' fees from drug ingredient costs in determining indicative budgets. The group's recommendations with regard to the establishment of a national pharmacoepidemiology database and a linked prescribing morbidity database are being considered in the context of the development of IT systems for general practice/primary care. The Deputy will also wish to know that initiatives with regard to therapeutic guidelines for medical practitioners generally are also under consideration with a view to facilitating rational and quality prescribing.
The recommendations made in the report will continue to inform the future development of the scheme.