Shared Care refers to a formal locally commissioned collaborative management of a patient’s specialist treatment to be transferred, once stable, to a GP, who takes over the  prescribing and/or monitoring responsibilities.

Shared Care Arrangements must be supported by a formal written agreement containing:

• clear governance
• agreed, safe clinical protocols
• appropriate funding modelled on the cost of the additional workload and
• clearly defined responsibilities between providers.

On any occasion they are requested, it is a voluntary choice for a practice to agree to Shared Care Arrangements. They should only proceed where the four conditions above are met.

This collective action seeks to ensure that Shared Care arrangements are safe, sustainable and properly commissioned and governed before any responsibilities are transferred into primary care.

This action reinforces that Shared Care Arrangements are voluntary and should only be undertaken where they are appropriately resourced, clearly defined and, therefore, safe for patients. This ensures practices can manage the increased workload and clinical risk, clarifies responsibilities between providers, and mitigates practices  becoming overstretched when local systems and hospitals attempt to shift  patient services into general practice.

Patients should continue to receive safe and effective care. Where formal Shared Care Arrangements are in place, treatment can continue closer to home. Where appropriate arrangements do not exist, all clinical responsibility must remain with the specialist service.

Medicines optimisation software is often embedded in clinical systems by an ICB for the purposes of system financial savings and/or rationing (rather than the clinical benefit of your patients). It provides prompts, alerts, or recommendations at the point of prescribing. Clinical systems already provide advice and guidance at the point of prescribing.

Such software commonly:

• flags cheaper alternatives
• suggests formulary-preferred medicines
• highlights prescribing guidance
• prompts reviews or switches
• warns about duplicate or potentially unsuitable prescribing.

These tools are also commonly linked to ICB or local formulary policies, which are often written with cost and ICB prescribing budgets in mind.

This limits screen pop up distractions to the GP during patient consultations and ensures prescribing decisions are in the patient’s best interest, as determined by the patient and GP, rather than driven by financial imperatives of commissioners.

Prescribing should always be undertaken in the best interests of patients in line with GMC guidance.

Patients see minimal impact and receive the prescription appropriate for their clinical presentation.

GP partnerships are the data controllers for GP patient records and are legally responsible for determining the purposes and means of processing patient data.

While patient information may be shared for direct care purposes with other health and social care providers involved in a patient's treatment, it can also be shared for secondary purposes such as research, planning, service evaluation or commercial activities. These uses are not essential for an individual patient's immediate care.

This collective action focuses on voluntary data sharing agreements that facilitate these secondary uses of patient data. It provides an opportunity for practices to review whether existing agreements remain lawful, proportionate and aligned with the interests of patients and practices.

This action supports practices in reviewing existing data sharing arrangements and ensuring patient data is only shared where there is a clear legal basis and benefit. It reinforces the practice's role as data controller and helps strengthen information governance.

There should be little or no impact on patient care, as this action relates only to secondary uses of data rather than direct care. Patients may benefit from greater transparency and confidence in how their personal data is used.