Some medications that are started by a specialist require something called a shared care agreement in order for the practice to prescribe it on an ongoing basis.
The purpose of the shared care agreement is to clearly describe what the responsibilities are for the specialist and the GP in terms of monitoring the medication. This is to ensure that patients stay safe at all times.
We have developed a robust process to manage shared care agreements.
We appreciate that sometimes this may mean a patient is not immediately able to get a prescription from the practice while we gather further information (step 4) to ensure all specialist responsibilities have being met.
Please be assured though, as soon as we receive the information from the specialist to confirm that all appropriate checks have occurred, we will not delay arranging for the practice to take over prescribing on a longer-term basis.
The above flow chart describes how we process shared care agreement requests.