A call for the employment of specialist pharmacists, possibly contracted through community pharmacies, to serve residential and nursing homes has been made in a joint report issued by the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Nursing and the British Geriatrics Society.
This could lead to improved services that could be paid for from the savings generated by reductions in unnecessary prescribing, the report suggests.
The recommendation is based on an assumption that the pharmacist would be paid at a rate equivalent to a grade E hospital pharmacist and would spend half a day once a month at each home covered by the scheme.
The report calculates that the annual extra cost of the service would be £40 per resident for a 38-resident nursing home and £50 per resident for a 30-bed residential home.
So far as the potential savings are concerned, the report refers to a study of matched samples of patients in nursing homes and in the community. The study found that nursing home residents received repeat prescriptions valued at £379 per year compared with £137 for similar patients in the community. The difference in total prescription costs was even higher, at £404 compared with £147.
"The health and care of older people in care homes", Royal College of Physicians, 11 St Andrews Place, Regent's Park Road, London NW1 4LE. ISBN 1 86016 137 5, price £12.