The Kent and Medway Joint Medicines Formulary

Welcome to the Kent and Medway Joint Medicines Formulary

The Kent and Medway joint medicines formulary has been developed to promote safe, effective, and economic prescribing across primary and secondary care in Kent and Medway in accordance with local and national guidance.

It provides clinical guidance on the management of a wide variety of common conditions, including locally recommended drug choices presented in a recognisable traffic light classification. 

All material in this formulary is aimed at health professionals, but is information currently held within the public domain. Members of the public seeking advice on medicine-related matters are encouraged to speak with their GP, pharmacist or nurse, or contact NHS 111 service.

The Kent and Medway joint medicines formulary is not a confined list, but a recommendation drawn up after consultation with the Kent and Medway ICB medicines optimisation team, local prescribers and in collaboration with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, Medway NHS Foundation Trust, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust and Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.

It has been accepted that not all medicines can be prescribed and supplied in the same way across all of Kent and Medway health economy and some clinical areas will continue to be reviewed to align across the system to reduce variation. While we have done our best to align as much as possible, some disparities remain. This could be due to different prescribing arrangements being in place within local areas and services. Ongoing work to address disparities will take place over the coming months to continue to review medicines out of alignment with full stakeholder engagement.

The medicines approved for use within the Kent and Medway joint medicines formulary have been reviewed following NICE guidance for the development and update of local formularies. Only drugs previously present on a historical formulary could be considered for review to the Kent and Medway joint medicines Formulary. New medicines would still have to be considered for inclusion via the usual Governance processes in place. An editorial policy used to provide assurance can be seen here. This policy was approved for use to ensure clinical safety was maintained throughout the alignment process.

NICE technology appraisal guidance

Medicines recommended by NICE technology appraisal guidelines, will be incorporated into the formulary within 90 days of publication and once approved.
When a TA recommends use of a medicine that is not already in the formulary, the medicine will added to the appropriate section. Additions will be published following formal agreement of NICE recommendations at the Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee.

Every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this formulary is accurate and up to date at the time of publication. Please be aware that information about medicines and therapeutics will change over time and maybe under review, and that information may not be current after the initial date of publication. Please take note of the publication date and seek further advice if in any doubt about the information shown.

Please send all Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the ICB's FOI Team at kmicb.foi@nhs.net