12.01.12
Guidance for patient prescription change published
New guidance has been published to help notify pharmacists if prescriptions change while patients are in hospital.
The New Medicine Service (NMS) and post-discharge Medicines Use Reviews (MURs) were introduced in October 2011 to enhance patients understanding and adherence to their medicines.
The guidance for these tools has been developed by NHS Employers and Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) to formalise the sharing of information during transfer of care for a patient via a national referral form.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has endorsed the guidance documents.
The documents include a patient information leaflet about the benefits of community pharmacy, guidance for community pharmacy about engaging with hospital colleagues and for hospital colleagues about engaging with community pharmacy.
Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical officer at the Department of Health, said: “These documents are a practical way to help community pharmacists and hospital colleagues make sure that the patient's medication regime and any information they are given is consistent during the transfer of care. They will help underpin a safe and beneficial approach to MURs and NMS provided to patients post discharge.”
Alastair Buxton, head of NHS Services at PSNC, said: “Providing seamless care for patients transferring from hospital is a top priority for the NHS, and the NMS and post-discharge MURs allow community pharmacists to support patients with their transition back into the community.
“Provision of the services requires local team working between primary and secondary care, which many LPCs and PCTs are keen to support. These resources should assist with local discussions on the services which in turn should help enhance relationships between hospital and community pharmacy colleagues.”
Heidi Wright, English practice & policy lead at the RPS, said: “We are delighted to support this initiative which supports referral between hospital and community pharmacy colleagues. This fits particularly well with our early adopter programme on ‘Keeping patients safe when they transfer between care providers – getting the medicines right.’”
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