Medicines Management
Issue no 6, p1
November/December 2002

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Guidance released on how to conduct medication reviews

A guide on how to set up and carry out medication reviews has been launchedthis month by the Medicines Partnership and the National Prescribing Centre's medicines management collaborative.

"Room for review" describes four levels of review of increasing depth and complexity, from a basic ad hoc approach, to a fully concordant, face-to-face clinical medication review. It suggests standard ways of recording information from different models of review and gives practical advice on implementation. It also suggests who could be involved in the development of a local medication review strategy and how progress could be monitored.

Joanne Shaw, director of the Medicines Partnership, said: "[The guide] will encourage people to involve patients as partners in a way they might not have done before. What we hope people will do is develop their own local strategy for which patients need reviews and what kind — it might mean implementing more than one type of review."

Ms Shaw suggested that, for example, people just discharged from hospital might require a level three review because of their vulnerability, whereas others might only need a doctor to check that certain tests are up to date. However, she added that the hope was that face-to-face reviews would eventually be available to everyone.

Research with patients and carers, also included, shows that they welcome the idea and the chance to ask about their medicines. Ms Shaw said: "Many patients believe they do not have enough opportunity to have medication review. Their needs were consistent across a range of backgrounds — people want to understand their medicines better and have their questions answered.

"From the Medicines Partnership perspective, there are many ways to do medication review, but the ideal form always involves the patient as a full partner. Medication review is a fantastic way to bring concordance into the health service straight away."

'Room for Review' is available on the Medicines Partnership website, www.medicines-partnership.org. The Medicines Partnership also welcomes people's own experiences and comments relating to medication review, as well as feedback on the new guide, via the website.