The Drugs And Therapeutics Bulletin Soon To Be Rationed In Wales

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 04 Dec 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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BMA Cymru Wales has reacted with incredulity when it was disclosed that a key clinical publication is being restricted to clinicians across Wales.

The Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB) which is currently sent to all doctors, will soon be rationed.

Welsh Secretary of the BMA, Dr Richard Lewis said: "It is incredible that the Health Minister has made this short term decision that funding for the Bulletin is being restricted for nine months and then ended completely.

"The Minister's decision to reduce the distribution of The Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin to one copy per GP surgery and one copy per hospital department until March next year, and cease funding altogether after that, is one that will impact heavily on the ability of doctors to treat patients safely.

"The Bulletin is a vital tool for doctors which is now in jeopardy. It gives independent advice on medicines and is an indispensable publication for any doctors who prescribes medicines to patients.

"If the Welsh Assembly Government values doctors and other health professionals, limiting the provision of 'tools of their trade' is a strange way of showing it."

"Evidence based prescribing is essential in order to provide good quality healthcare to patients. Complications through both overuse and underuse of drugs can lead to emergency hospital admissions and the wastage of medicines, leading to unnecessary costs for the NHS in Wales.

"While we agree that with technology moving into a new dimension and confirmation that the DTB will be available to all clinicians electronically, we are still concerned that not having the bulletins available in paper form could cause problems with homes visits and emergency call outs or if computers fail."

Chairman of the BMA's Welsh Council, Dr Andrew Dearden said: "This move of the Assembly Government to de-fund part an important part of the NHS's information system about drugs is indeed strange. This bulletin plays a vital part in medicine safety and in helping doctors choose the right drug for each and every patient in Wales. When the Minister says she cannot afford to make sure each practising clinician has this up-to-date information to hand, she is, in effect, saying she cannot afford patient safety."

It is distributed across Wales by the Welsh Medicines Resource Centre based in Llandough Hospital. The Welsh Health Minister has stated that she will not be able to fund the distribution from December 2008.

DTB's aim is to provide informed and unbiased information on medical conditions, medicines and other treatments to enable people to make informed choices.

True to this objective, the Drugs and Therapeutic Bulletin has always been wholly independent of the pharmaceutical industry, Government and regulatory authorities. DTB is also free of advertising and other forms of commercial sponsorship.

All contributors are asked to declare whether they have any interests or relationships they think might influence their comments. These potential conflicts are taken into account during the editorial process.

In addition, the extensive peer-review process exposes potential conflicts of interest. All comments must be supported by appropriate evidence.

Last year, the Government attempted to limit the distribution of the British National Formulary which provides healthcare professionals with authoritative and practical information on the selection and clinical use of medicines in a clear, concise and accessible manner.

http://www.bma.org.uk