As part of its ongoing commitment to reduce prescribing of products of “low clinical effectiveness”, NHS England has advised clinical commissioning groups that prescribers in primary care should not prescribe bath and shower preparations for any new patient.

Its advice, published in June 2019, said CCGs should support prescribers in deprescribing products in this category and substitute with ‘leave-on’ emollients.

It also recommended that silk garments (listed in Part IX A of the Drug Tariff) should no longer be prescribed as being unlikely to be a cost-effective for managing eczema or dermatitis. The National Eczema Society said it would challenge the recommendation.