The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7222 p635
2 November 2002

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

PSNC medicines management project enters main phase

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee's medicines management project — the community pharmacy medicines management project (CPMMP) — has now entered its main phase.

Helen Rhodes, project manager for the CPMMP, told The Journal that the pilot phase had been completed successfully and that the lessons learnt during the pilot and from feedback from participants had been used to improve the processes rolled out into the main phase.

"Many of the practices involved in the project have now written to patients on their [coronary heart disease] lists to invite them to participate in the project. The next step is for audit clerks to extract core baseline data from patients' medical notes." This information will then be sent to participating pharmacists to enable them to make initial assessments of patients and invite them for an interview.

Ms Rhodes added that the nine pilot areas (PJ, 16 June 2001, p802) remain the same for the main phase and that the only difference between the pilot and main phases is that more patients are being invited to participate.

The PSNC is to hold a series of evening roadshows, planned for January and February 2003, to inform community pharmacists about medicines management in general, based upon the experiences of the project. Information on how to assess premises, identify training needs and plan and conduct a medicines management consultation will be presented at the roadshows.

Information about the project and the roadshows is available from www.medicinesmanagement.org.uk.