The All Wales Therapeutic Toxicology Centre (AWTTC) are delighted to announce that the Blueteq High Cost Drug (HCD) System for the Welsh Health Boards and Trust is going live in April 2025
The Blueteq HCD system is used to authorise use of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) approved high cost drugs across a whole range of healthcare conditions.
Adopting the system will ensure we get the right treatment to the right patients and allow NHS Wales to manage the ever-increasing complexities associated with prescribing these high cost treatments.
The Blueteq HCD system was procured for NHS Wales by the NHS Wales Joint Services Committee (NWJCC) (formerly WHSSC) and Welsh Government in 2019 to initially support the implementation of all HCDs commissioned by NWJCC but with a view to wider implementation across the health boards in Wales.
Implementation of the Blueteq HCD system has been managed and administered by a Steering Group including Health Board (HBs) representatives from all areas of Wales and Project Management support provided by AWTTC. Blueteq ‘forms’ are approved and managed on an All Wales basis.
Implementation of the Blueteq HCD system was developed in two phases. Phase I was for NWJCC commissioned medicines only (including all ATMPs); phase II to include HCDs prescribed by the seven HBs and Trust in Wales. Phase II goes live in April 2025. HBs and Trust will identify their own priority areas for implementation and will continue with a phased approach until all eligible medicines are included (list to follow). Key updates will be provided here on the AWTTC website.
The Blueteq HCD system will provide the HBs with assurance that approved high cost medicines are prescribed in line with local policy and NICE guidance ensuring consistency across Wales and England.
The system provides a single process for recording and approving treatments that HBs wish to monitor. Approval of a HCD request is accomplished by the completion of a simple ‘form’ which lists the eligibility criteria for that medicine. A library of unique forms for HCDs is being developed with support from clinical teams across Wales. A list of forms available for use will be published here on the AWTTC website in due course.
They are easy to use; clear and intuitive and additional data items can be added where appropriate.
Close cooperation with both NHS Wales and NHS England has enabled Blueteq to include sufficient functionality to ensure cross border treatments can be catered for seamlessly and attributed to the correct organisations.
Where appropriate a review period can be included and stored for particular treatments and will then be calculated and recorded against each notification.
NHS Wales Blueteq medicine list to be updated here soon
The success of the project is attributed to all those involved: the implementation Steering Group, clinicians involved in reviewing the Blueteq medicine criteria forms and the Business Development Director, Blueteq.