The RNOH Drugs and Therapeutics Committee (DTC) oversees medicines optimisation issues including the Trust Formulary and assessment of new drugs in combination with the North Central London Joint Formulary Committee (NCLJFC)and the Hertfordshire Medicines Management Committee (HMMC). The DTC in combination with the Trust Clinical Quality and Governance Committee also focuses on monitoring medication safety measure and devising measure of improving safer practice.
The DTC has a robust system for the evaluation of new medicines and assessment of therapeutic practices, guidelines and policies.
The primary concern of the DTC is the clinical effectiveness and safety of drug therapy compared with existing formulary alternatives, with decisions driven by an evidence based approach.
The Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee, Medical Gases Committee, Medication Safety Committee and Non-Medical Prescribers Group all focus on different aspects of optimising medicines optimisation, monitoring medication safety and improving patient care. As such, these committees report to the DTC.
The formulary at RNOH is part of a collaborative project across multiple NHS organisations in North Central London, known as the North Central London Joint Formulary. The benefits of implementing a formulary include:
- Improving patient outcomes by optimising the use of medicines
- Supporting the inclusion of patient factors in decision-making about medicines
- Improving local pathways
- Improve collaboration between commissioner and provider
- Improving quality by reducing inappropriate variations in clinical care
- Improving quality through access to cost-effective medicines
- Supporting financial management and expenditure on medicines across health communities
- Supporting prescribers to follow guidance published by professional regulatory bodies in relation to medicines and prescribing
In accordance with the ‘Innovation, Health and Wealth’ document published by the Department of Health in 2012, all relevant medicines recommended by NICE in the form of a Technology Appraisal guidance are automatically included within the RNOH Formulary in a planned manner which supports their safe and appropriate use in clinical practice . Any medicine that has a governance or safety concern will be added to the Formulary with a restriction to ensure patient safety.