NHS commissioners in Sefton have been shortlisted for the prestigious HSJ Value Awards 2018. The awards recognise the very best in efficiency and improvement from across the NHS.

NHS Southport and Formby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS South Sefton CCG have been jointly nominated in the communications category for work associated with communicating their Repeat Prescription Ordering Scheme (RPOS).

RPOS was designed to improve patient safety, by reducing the amount of adverse drug events caused by people having stockpiles of unused drugs stored without supervision in their homes, and also reduce the cost of unused prescriptions, estimated at around £2 million a year in Sefton alone.

The scheme was part of an overall medicines optimisation strategy adopted by the CCGs which also included the ‘only order what you need’ public awareness campaign and a number of other initiatives aimed at improving people’s awareness of the medicines they use. The CCGs have also undertaken an extensive engagement programme with Sefton residents to inform decisions about how RPOS and other schemes operate.

It is estimated that RPOS has resulted in estimated savings of at least £500,000 for the NHS in Sefton, although it is believed that the actual savings are significantly higher. RPOS also identified a significant number of patients who were not ordering their prescriptions and were subsequently at increased risk of deterioration in their health.

Speaking about being shortlisted for the award, Susanne Lynch, head of medicines management at the CCGs, said: “Being shortlisted for such a prestigious award is testament to the hard work of everyone here at the CCG who care deeply about delivering the very best health service possible for people in Sefton. The improvements to patient safety, coupled with significant cost savings, delivered by this scheme are a real success story.”

Shortlisted teams will discuss their nominations with a panel of healthcare experts in London next month before the final winners are announced at a ceremony in Manchester on 7 June.