Medicines Management
Issue no 2, p5
March/April 2002

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Flying pharmacist scheme aims to manage medicines in over-75s

Poole and North Central PCT is setting up a flying pharmacist scheme to help patients who have difficulties with their medicines once discharged from hospital.

District nurses are being asked to look out for problems with medication use among the older patients they visit, and to fax the details straight to the pharmaceutical adviser at the PCT.

The pharmaceutical adviser will then arrange for a pharmacist to visit the patient to try and resolve the problem, and help them manage their medicines more effectively.

Pam Grant, pharmaceutical adviser to Poole Central and North PCT, said: "We're working with secondary care to sort out some of the problems around discharge of older people from hospital. Patients are discharged with bags full of medicines for diabetes and coronary heart disease, often with little idea of what they're taking and why."

She added that prescribing was often a theoretical exercise, with no follow up to see whether or not the patient could actually take the medicines prescribed.

"It is the pharmacists' responsibility but there is no funding. It is a very labour intensive task, removing medicines from blister packs and putting them into compliance aids," she said.

Although there are payments available for community pharmacists in Dorset to do some of the work, negotiated with the Local Pharmaceutical Committee, Ms Grant said more money was needed, especially if targets in the NSF for older people were to be met.

“There's a huge demand for this service. We put in a bid for the strategic and financial framework (SaFF) but the health authority said there were other funding priorities.”

Ms Grant added that the time had come for the PCT to consider top-slicing prescribing budgets to fund medicines management services, but that it might meet resistance from local GPs. “You are actually saving on drug costs in the long run,” she said.

Meanwhile pharmacists at Amber Valley PCT are running a scheme that trains local pharmacists to Masters degree level to do medication reviews when they visit patients’ homes. The PCT hopes that its medicines support service will lead to better use of medicines.