Medicines reconciliation guidance

Home > HP (current issue) > News and research update / News Centre | Search

Hospital Pharmacist
2008;15:3
January 2008

Medicines reconciliation guidance

Pharmacists should be involved with medicines reconciliation as soon as possible after a patient is admitted to hospital, according to guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in collaboration with the National Patient Safety Agency.

The NPSA says that the aim of medicines reconciliation is to ensure that important medicines are not stopped during a hospital admission and that new medicines are prescribed with a complete knowledge of the patient’s current medicines.

The guidance recommends that all healthcare organisations have policies in place for medicines reconciliation on admission and that these policies clearly define the responsibilities of pharmacists and other staff.

Patient safety is progressing significantly towards the top of the NHS agenda, according to a report from the NPSA. “Safety first: one year on” reports on the progress over the past year by NHS organisations towards establishing patient safety as their number one priority. This includes setting up a national patient safety forum and the agreement of a patient safety charter.