Health Minister announces new medicines management framework
Rosie Winterton, Health Minister, announced a new medicines management framework for hospitals in England while addressing the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Harrogate on 17 September.
“Hospital pharmacists and their staff have made great strides in
redesigning services around patients,” she said. These include more
patients using their own medicines, greater use of patient packs, increased
safety
and reduced waste. “But we need to do more to share and spread best
practice in hospitals,” she said, as she announced the new medicines
management framework.
The minister also announced that the medicines management collaborative
initiative is being extended to secondary care,
initially in up to ten hospitals. This is in addition to the
extension in primary care which will increase the number of primary care trusts
involved to 146.
The framework has two main purposes. First, to make clear to trust chief executives
their responsibilities regarding the management of medicines
within their trusts and the related health economy. The second aspect is to assist
trusts in
developing systems ahead of the value for money audits which are planned for
2005.
Chief executives have
responsibility for ensuring the appropriate policies and
procedures are in place to
guarantee effective medicines management as part of the wider governance agenda.
A number of areas for improvement have been identified since assessments were
made in 2001. These include: the level of senior
management involvement and awareness of medicines
management issues, formulary management and
re-engineering of ward-based services around patients.
Trust chief pharmacists are required to complete a
medicines management
self-assessment form, which must be agreed with the medical director and chief
executive. This form should be submitted to their strategic health authority
by 1 December.
Trusts are asked to assess
themselves against seven principal domains, which are:
• senior
management involvement
• information, finance and business planning
• medicines policy
• procurement
• designing services around patients
• influencing
prescribers and training
• managing risk.
Against each of 34 standards, trusts must state whether they met
the standard, expect to meet the standard
within six months, expect to meet the standard by the end of 2004 or do not
meet the standard.
Further information about the medicines managment
framework is available from the Department of Health website. |
