DOCTORS are being given a taste of their own medicine as part of a national project to promote effective use of medication.
Health workers working for Durham and Chester-le-Street Primary Care Trust recently took stock of a project that has been running in the district for the past 12 months.
The National Medicines Management Collaborative Project is designed to help patients get the most effective medicines and provide doctors with the most up-to-date information on drugs.
Health workers involved in the scheme got together to share their findings and plan the next 12 months of the project, which has been piloted at Sacriston Surgery, Brandon Lane Surgery, Dunelm Medical Group, Cheveley Park Medical Centre and Meadowfield Surgery.
Under the scheme, leaflets have been produced offering patients advice on issues such as repeat prescriptions and commonly prescribed drugs. A hay fever minor ailment scheme was launched so that patients treated for hay fever could obtain treatments without prescriptions, and a prescription collection service was set up in Chester-le-Street for easier access to medicines.
About £16m worth of medicines are prescribed each year in the Durham and Chester-le-Street area.
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