Tailoring packaging to patients is more likely to boost adherence than government plans to print medicine prices, a manufacturer's survey has suggested.

The survey by Omnicell cast doubts over government plans to publish “indicative medicine costs to the NHS” on packs worth more than £20 next year, announced by health secretary Jeremy Hunt in July. These packs would be marked “funded by the UK taxpayer" in an attempt to reduce medicines waste and improve adherence, Mr Hunt said at the time.

But the survey of more than 2,000 adults in Great Britain revealed that only 36% agreed that printing the cost of medicines would improve their adherence, Omnicell said last week (October 16).

This compared with 53% who said their adherence would be improved if they received "personalised packaging from [a] pharmacist that shows when each dose should be taken", the company said.

Forty-one per cent of more than 2,000 adults in Great Britain – surveyed by research analysts ComRes in July and August – also said that being sent reminders by text or phone would make them more likely to stick to their medicines regime, according to data published to coincide with National Medication Adherence Week, which ended today (October 23).

Forty-nine per cent of respondents said printing prices would have no impact on their adherence, while 5% said it would make them less likely to adhere, Omnicell said.

Regional variations

Printing prices is most likely to have a positive effect on Scottish patients – who do not pay for any prescriptions – with 44% saying it would improve their adherence, according to the survey data.

Patients in north-east England are the least likely to be affected, with 64% reporting that printing prices would make them “neither more nor less likely” to adhere, according to the data.

Pharmacy bodies raised doubts about the effectiveness of plans to print prices when they were announced, with Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott branding the idea “superficially attractive”. 

What impact do you think printing medicine prices would have on adherence?

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