Abstract
Aim
To ascertain the views of GPs in relation to their use of, and how they value, their local joint formulary.
Design
Questionnaire survey.
Subjects and setting
All 1,099 GP principals practising and employed by the 11 primary care trusts in the South West Peninsula Strategic Health Authority.
Results
Of the 470 respondents, 84% had their own hard copy of their joint formulary, and 34% had accessed their intranet formulary. 48% said they used their joint formulary to guide prescribing once a week or more, and 20% stated they referred to their joint formulary frequently to assist in the choice of drug therapy during individual patient consultations. Most GPs agreed that a joint formulary is a useful means of promoting consistent prescribing across the primary/secondary care interface, and that their approach to prescribing had been influenced by, and had improved since, its introduction. 93% agreed that their joint formulary has an educational value attached to it, and 87% welcomed feedback on adherence to the joint formulary. Only 39% had noticed any influence of the joint formulary on hospital prescribing. Free text comments to open questions on the joint formulary concept and how formularies should develop were broadly positive although some GPs did express negative views.
Conclusions
Overall GPs’ comments on their joint formularies were positive especially around the educational value of such a document and the potential for improving prescribing across the interface. However there were concerns from GPs about how the formulary is actually implemented and followed within secondary care.
