Abstract
Objective: The aim of this paper is to analyse the reasons for a major increase in expenditure on inpatient pharmaceutical costs over a two year period and to describe strategies developed to prevent further increases.
Conclusions: By educating our medical staff on the costs of the most commonly prescribed medications and favouring cost effective medications such as risperidone over olanzapine we have been able to contain our inpatient drug costs and achieve a 14% reduction this financial year.