Abstract
BACKGROUND: Both the government and the pharmaceutical industry are interested in increasing the use of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. The reaction on the part of general practitioners is more circumspect. AIM: To investigate whether fundholding or dispensing status and patient exemption from, or prepayment of prescription charges influence the behaviour of general practitioners with respect to prescribing preparations otherwise available OTC. METHOD: Regression analysis of data for all 105 Lincolnshire practices for the fiscal year 1993-94, using the number of items prescribed by the practice that were also available OTC as the outcome variable. Comparison of Audit Commission Thematic Analysis of Prescribing (ACTAP) data for fundholders' and non-fundholders' OTC prescribing in the same year. RESULTS: The prescription of medicines otherwise available OTC is less likely when the practice is fundholding and more likely when the practice has dispensing status. Prescription of such medicines also increases as the proportion of patients exempt from, or having prepaid prescription charges increases.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (42.0 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Baines D. L., Whynes D. K. Selection bias in GP fundholding. Health Econ. 1996 Mar-Apr;5(2):129–140. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1050(199603)5:2<129::AID-HEC190>3.0.CO;2-R. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Blenkinsopp A., Bradley C. Patients, society, and the increase in self medication. BMJ. 1996 Mar 9;312(7031):629–632. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7031.629. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bradley C. P., Bond C. Increasing the number of drugs available over the counter: arguments for and against. Br J Gen Pract. 1995 Oct;45(399):553–556. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Erwin J., Britten N., Jones R. General practitioners' views on over the counter sales by community pharmacists. BMJ. 1996 Mar 9;312(7031):617–618. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7031.617. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Kennedy J. G. Over the counter drugs. BMJ. 1996 Mar 9;312(7031):593–594. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7031.593. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morton-Jones T. J., Pringle M. A. Prescribing costs in dispensing practices. BMJ. 1993 May 8;306(6887):1244–1246. doi: 10.1136/bmj.306.6887.1244. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Roberts S. J., Harris C. M. Age, sex, and temporary resident originated prescribing units (ASTRO-PUs): new weightings for analysing prescribing of general practices in England. BMJ. 1993 Aug 21;307(6902):485–488. doi: 10.1136/bmj.307.6902.485. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ryan M., Bond C. Dispensing physicians and prescribing pharmacists: economic considerations for the UK. Pharmacoeconomics. 1994 Jan;5(1):8–17. doi: 10.2165/00019053-199405010-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Spencer J. A., Edwards C. Pharmacy beyond the dispensary: general practitioners' views. BMJ. 1992 Jun 27;304(6843):1670–1672. doi: 10.1136/bmj.304.6843.1670. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Thomas D. H., Noyce P. R. The interface between self medication and the NHS. BMJ. 1996 Mar 16;312(7032):688–691. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7032.688. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Whynes D. K., Baines D. L., Tolley K. H. GP fundholding and the costs of prescribing. J Public Health Med. 1995 Sep;17(3):323–329. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]