A NEW list has been drawn up advising East Lancashire doctors which drugs to prescribe.

Health bosses hope the list - known as a formulary - will mean only the most cost-effective and well-tested drugs will be prescribed to patients in Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley.

Doctors are advised to select drugs from the list where possible, although medicines not on the list will be available where they are more appropriate for individual patients.

The list has been compiled by GPs and hospital specialists following a series of meetings over the last 18 months. The aim is to make it easier for NHS Primary Care Groups, which bring GP practices together, to manage prescribing budgets.

There can be big variations in the costs of similar drugs. Where possible, the most cost-effective drug has been put on the list after safety and its acceptability to patients have been looked at.

Dr Chris Mowbray, GP and head of the section of Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Group which deals with prescribing issues, said: "The list will ensure that patients will be able to receive the most appropriate treatment for their condition.

"There will, however, always be some exceptional circumstances where doctors will feel the need to prescribe outside of this list which will, of course, be possible. The main aim of the list is to ensure that patients get the proper treatment and to try to ensure that every penny of taxpayers' money counts.

Paul Birch, director of pharmacy for the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley NHS Trust, said: "This work is a result of ever-increasing co-operation between primary and secondary care services who are trying to ensure that good quality, evidence-based treatment is delivered to our patients."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.