Prescribing standards

All prescribers should follow the standards relating to prescribing in Section 6.2 in the Trust Medicines Policy.

Medicines should be prescribed by generic name unless a particular preparation needs to be specified by brand name because of variations in bioavailability between different brands, or where brand prescribing has been agreed for cost reasons and these are identified in the formulary. A patient information leaflet is available to help service users understand the benefits of generic prescribing.

Prescribers should be familiar with the summary of product characteristics (SPCs) for the medicines they prescribe. SPCs for UK licensed products can be searched here.

Patient information leaflets can be accessed from HPFT:Choice and Medication website when supporting service users to make informed choices on their treatment.