This site is intended for health professionals only

Leicester CCG to examine £1m paracetamol spend

Leicester CCG to examine £1m paracetamol spend
25 January 2016



West Leicestershire commissioners are deciding whether to cut or limit access to paracetamol prescriptions, after they found out it costs £1million annually.

This is a significant chunk of their £50 million budget, and the clinical commissioning group (CCG) also has to save approximately £19million over the next two years to contribute to the national savings required.

West Leicestershire commissioners are deciding whether to cut or limit access to paracetamol prescriptions, after they found out it costs £1million annually.

This is a significant chunk of their £50 million budget, and the clinical commissioning group (CCG) also has to save approximately £19million over the next two years to contribute to the national savings required.

After recognising that the paracetamol spend “seems a very big figure,” the first step will be to review the information in order to find out who is taking out paracetamol prescriptions, what they are using it for and why they cannot buy it themselves, a spokeperson for the CCG explained.

Meanwhile, up to 22 million paracetamol prescriptions were written in 2015 by GPs, the BBC found, costing CCGs more than £80million.

West Leicestershire CCG are now seeking legal action in order to restrict prescription costs without contradicting the GP contract that says GPs must prescribe based on clinical need.

“We are not sure whether [prescribing paractemol] will be cut completely or access will be limited, but we don’t want people using prescriptions to stock up on paracetamol,” the spokesperson explained.

Want news like this straight to your inbox?

Related articles