Medicines
Management
Issue no 6, p12
November/December
2002
|
|
Medicines
Management |
|
Features |
And how many pharmacists are needed to conduct medication reviews?
The National Service Framework for Older People requires that patients over 75 have their medicines reviewed annually and those on four or more medications every six months. Previous research has demonstrated that these medication reviews can generate considerable cost savings for primary care trusts when conducted by pharmacists.1 Combined with the benefits in terms of quality of prescribing and the opportunity to improve concordance through increased patient education this means that increasing numbers of PCTs will wish to employ pharmacists to conduct this work. The recent publication of data from the 2001 census and experience of conducting medication reviews for older people in Bolton allows an estimation of the resources needed to conduct these reviews and there are significant workforce implications. The calculations are based on a number of assumptions. The NSF states that 36 per cent of patients are on four or more medications. However, an audit of general practices in Bolton providing care for 128,000 patients in total found that 52 per cent of patients over 75 were on four or more medications. This higher figure is considered more realistic based on the recent growth in prescribing arising from other NSFs such as coronary heart disease. We had previously worked on estimates of pharmacists taking 20 minutes to conduct each medication review. Experience has shown that a number of patients will not attend for appointments. In a large and well-organised practice a pharmacist reviewed an average of 7.4 patients in a three-hour clinic session. Assuming that a whole time equivalent (WTE) pharmacist will work 10 sessions per week for 42 weeks per year the number of WTE pharmacists can be estimated. This equates to a requirement for 0.5 WTE pharmacists per 1000 patients over 75. The data from the 2001 census will allow workforce planners and pharmaceutical advisers to calculate the staff requirements to undertake this work. There were 3,704,945 over 75s in England at the 2001 census.2 This would require 1850 WTE pharmacists — just to carry out medication reviews.
|
|
|
Home | Journals | News | Notice-board | Search | Jobs Classifieds | Site
Map | Contact us
©The Pharmaceutical Journal
