PCTs sign up for prescription clinical support software

Prescription software firm ScriptSwitch have been awarded contracts to provide their ‘real-time’ support software to ten Primary Care trusts.

ScriptSwitch is a software package developed in partnership with the NHS which sets out to improve clinical excellence by supporting the prescriber. It delivers concise medicines management guidelines at the point of prescribing, as configured locally by the PCT.

Mike Washburn, managing director of ScriptSwitch told E-Health Insider Primary Care: “Our software simply advises prescribers on alternative courses of medication to the one they have selected, giving them a wider option for their patients. It maintains their clinical freedom, simply suggesting to them alternative remedies."

ScriptSwitch claim that they are ‘now supplying its innovative product to almost a quarter of all primary care organisations in the UK’, and that they are saving the NHS over £3m.

“With the national IT programme under considerable pressure to deliver, ScriptSwitch provides a real local technology win for the NHS by helping to improve care whilst at the same time saving money which can then be re-invested in improving other services.”

The software developers have agreed deals with Derwentshire , Durham and Chester le Street (now County Durham PCT), Guernsey, Lambeth, Brighton and Hove, North Hampshire and Blackwater Valley and Hart, Surrey Heath and Woking, North Surrey, Sussex Downs and Weald and West Lincolnshire.

ScriptSwitch has doubled its PCT customer base over the last 12 months and Washburn hopes that more trusts will want to take advantage of this software.

“We started with 31 PCTs on our customer list and over the last 12 months we have doubled that, with a total of 62 PCTs on our books. We are keen to make sure we can deliver the service level they expect of us.

“I believe it’s a real breakthrough for the NHS and shows how successfully public and private partnerships can work together in the health service.”

Research by the company suggests that the product can provide a cost benefit for an average practice in the UK of around £35,000 per annum and potential savings to the NHS are estimated at around £300m per year.