Medicines management guide launched for PCTs and NHS trusts
How the medicines management aspects of national service frameworks should be implemented is set out in a new
resource published this week by the Department of Health.
The guide is designed to provide practical support for primary care trusts
and NHS trusts to implement the diabetes NSF, the renal services NSF
and the forthcoming NSF on long-term conditions. It includes existing
guidance, published evidence and examples of innovative practice.
The handbook describes why medicines management is needed, and the evidence
for it, and then sets out a framework for action. The aim of the framework
is to help local implementation teams identify and prioritise areas for
action.
The resource also describes what a good medicines management programme
should include; from the processes that should be in place in GP practices,
to those at PCTs and hospitals. It states that a successful programme
should have the following outcomes:
· Improved patient experience and satisfaction
· Better patient health outcomes
· Reductions in unused waste medicines returned to community pharmacies
· Intended medicines usage as described in NSFs
· Improved patient understanding about their medicines so that patients
are able to state what medicines they are taking and what they are taking
them for, resulting in improved compliance
The guidebook is available here |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
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