The CCG is responsible for making the best use of the NHS budget allocated to our population’s health services. The use of medicines is the most common therapeutic intervention in the NHS with approximately £50million being spent on medicines in the Vale of York and £16billion in England each year.

It is the role of the CCG to prioritise the use of funds and manage the local medicines bill. To help us do this, it uses national and local policies to ensure that the treatments it commissions are clinically appropriate, cost effective and safe to use.

Medicines management

Medicines management is a term that encompasses all aspects of the supply, use and disposal of medicines. Effective medicines management contributes towards:

• the improved health of individuals and the population as a whole;
• improved patient care and satisfaction;
• making best use of available resources;
• making better use of professional skills;
• the delivery of clinical governance.