Repeat prescribing: a study prior to the imposition of the limited list.

A diverse group of general practitioners from separate practices kept a record of their repeat prescriptions for a week in March 1985, just prior to the imposition of the Government's limited list of drugs which could be prescribed on the National Health Service. Up to one-fifth of repeat prescriptions needed to be altered to comply with the eventual list. An unexpected finding was the wide differences among the doctors in the proportion of repeat prescriptions that were written as the approved generic names. While the anxieties about generic prescribing have yet to be resolved, the problems of converting repeat prescriptions into generic names requires not only a change in doctors' behaviour, but also clear explanation to reception staff and patients. Such a change could produce considerable financial savings, and might be more effective in this than further imposed restrictions.