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Thirteen integrated care boards (ICBs) have started trialling a Single National Formulary (SNF) which NHS England (NHSE) said will speed up patients’ access to cost-effective treatments.

The SNF was created to provide a single evidence-based source of prescribing guidance after concerns that local formularies, which use categorisations to guide prescribing, were making it harder for patients to access medicines.

NHSE said data had “found at least 51 different categories being used across England, creating a system that is not only complicated, but also inconsistent depending on where in the country a patient lives”.

“(The SNF) aims to reduce variation caused by local formularies and remove barriers that can delay access to clinically and cost-effective treatments,” NHSE added.

Warning that variation in the uptake of treatments in the NHS stood at over 50 per cent, it estimated the UK economy would “achieve £17.9 billion additional productivity gains through the increased uptake of innovative medicines”.

The 13 ICBs which will transition to the SNF by December 2026 are:

• North Central and Northwest London
• Northeast London
• Southeast London and Southwest London
• Greater Manchester
• Essex
• Norfolk and Suffolk
• Central East
• West Yorkshire
• Hampshire and Isle of Wight
• Humber and North Yorkshire
• Thames Valley
• Shropshire/Telford and Wrekin/Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent
• Coventry and Warwickshire/Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The remaining ICBs will adopt the new standardised categorisation system by July 2027. The first four therapy areas that will be incorporated into the SNF as part of the first phase of the trial are chronic heart failure, type 2 diabetes (adult), ophthalmology and asthma.

NHSE said it plans to launch the first SNF “digital product” by July next year and include eight to 12 therapy areas.

“To support this, a national formulary committee will provide clinical and professional oversight of SNF decisions, working with NICE to translate national evidence into clear, clinically led formulary recommendations,” NHS said.

It said it plans to “expand the SNF to cover additional therapeutic areas” from late 2027 to mid-2030 and will get feedback from patients, clinicians, local systems and industry.

“The SNF will give clinicians consistent, accessible information in one place, embedded into prescribing systems and decision support tools, while maintaining clinical autonomy for individual prescribing decisions,” NHSE said.