Pharmacist-led intervention to reduce prescribing errors launched in five London CCGs
UCLPartners, working in partnership with PRIMIS and North Central London (NCL) CCGs, has launched new software and training to help GP Pharmacists identify, resolve and avoid future prescribing errors in general practice.
The pharmacist-led IT intervention, known as PINCER, searches GP clinical systems using computerised prescribing safety indicators to identify patients that have been prescribed multiple medicines that may not always work together or require specific monitoring. The software flags these patients, so that the pharmacist can review and improve systems to avoid future errors, reducing the patients’ risk of complications.
PINCER was originally trialled in the East Midlands, with evidence published in the Lancet estimating that the software was able to reduce prescribing errors by up to 50%, potentially avoiding safety incidents, illness, hospitalisations and even deaths that can occur as a result of prescription errors. PINCER is now being rolled out nationally by all 15 AHSNs.
In the UCLPartners region, PINCER is now being used in:
To date, 54 NCL GP Pharmacists have been trained to start using PINCER. Training will start in June 2019 for six North East London CCGs, with other CCGs in the partnership gearing up to adopt the software later in the year.
Paul Cordy, Head of Medicines Optimisation at UCLPartners, said: “We’re delighted to be working with PRIMIS to provide this software and training to our local CCGs. Ultimately PINCER has the potential to save lives. Our ambition is to make this software available to GP Pharmacists across our partnership. We’ll be rolling out PINCER in North East London CCGs next and are working towards having two in-house PINCER trainers who can provide guidance on the use of this software to pharmacists longer term”
For more information or to sign up to training, contact kate.st-john@uclpartners.com