Stopping Glucosamine

Glucosamine is a dietery supplement that has been used to help people with joint pain. It has been in the news this week because a review article in the British Medical Journal found no evidence that it was effective. For the full story on this click here for the story on the BBC website health pages.

The practice has in the past prescribed glucosamine but earlier this year we made the deicison to stop prescribing glucosamine as although it is safe there is very little evidence that it is an effective treatment for joint pain. We have been writing to patients telling them that we have stopped prescribing it. Of course the main motivation for doing this is to save money - our prescribing budget is forecast to be about £200,000 over budget and a no-brainer is to stop treatments that do no good - like gluocosamine.

So, once gain we are ahead of the curve!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stroke Connect

Hundreds of NHS patients have received personal, specialised care thanks to a new service set up during the coronavirus pandemic. Stroke Connect, a partnership with the NHS and the Stroke Association provides stroke survivors with support and advice in the early days following hospital discharge, without having to leave the house. Experts have said that the new offer is providing a ‘lifeline’ during the pandemic and has helped more than 500 people to rebuild their lives after having a stroke since it launched last month. Patients are contacted for an initial call within a few days of discharge from hospital, from a trained ‘Stroke Association Connector’, an expert in supporting people after stroke. The connector provides reassurance, support with immediate concerns and links the stroke survivor to support they can access in the long-term as part of their recovery journey as well as signposting them to other sources of support. A further call is offered within the month to check in
Read more

Welcome to Dr Siobhan Waldron

Dr Siobhan Waldron has joined us today for a six months training post. She is in her first year of a three year GP training scheme and was working in the Emergency Department at Dewsbury Hospital. Doctors who wish to become GPs have to undertaken a three year training programme and have attachments in an approved training general practice. We are an approved GP training practice - Dr Brown, Dr Walsh, Dr Harding and Dr Deeley are all approve GP Trainers and Dr Waldron joins three other trainees attached to the practice - Dr Javed, Dr Tai and Dr Turek, not forgetting Dr Sumara and Dr Timperley who are both on maternity leave! We give Dr Waldron a warm welcome and hope she enjoys her time with us.
Read more

Kings Medical Practice - Privacy Notice

How we use your information This privacy notice explains why the Kings Medical Practice collects information about you, and how that information may be used.  As data controllers, GPs have fair processing responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998.  This means ensuring that your personal confidential data (PCD) is handled in ways that are safe, transparent and what you would reasonably expect.  The Health and Social Care Act 2012 changed the way that personal confidential data is processed. Therefore it is important that patients are made aware of, and understand these changes and that you have an opportunity to object if you so wish and that you know how to do so. Health care professionals maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received within the NHS (e.g. NHS Hospital Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.).  These records help to provide the best possible healthcare. NHS health records may be processed electronically, on
Read more