GPs urged to switch patients to cheaper medicines

Doctors are being urged by the HSE to save up to €15m for the hard-pressed taxpayer by switching to cheaper cholesterol and anti-ulcer medicines.

Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) and statins account for up to 15% of the health authority’s drugs budget. However, the HSE can only ask, not direct, doctors to prescribe their preferred, and cheaper, drugs.

The HSE reckons that if 50% of all PPI prescriptions are for Lansoprazole (Zoton Fastab), instead of the other PPIs on the market, around €7.5m on the drugs budget will be saved this year.