Chemists to look after discharged patients

CHEMISTS will be given more powers to oversee the care of discharged hospital patients in a move designed to ease the massive pressure on GPS surgeries and A&E wards.

They will be able to advise on the medicine prescribed by hospital staff once a patient has been released.

The Government hopes that this will aid overworked GPS and A&E departments, where patients often go as a first port of call if they suffer any side effects from their medication.

The service is being rolled out as part of Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s pledge to “unleash the potential” of pharmacies over the next five years.

The Government said today’s announcement will save thousands of preventable nights in hospital – because many patients are readmitted due to complications or side effects linked to their hospital prescriptions – and help A&ES

‘They offer safe, efficient care’

and general practice. It says that 79 per cent of patients are prescribed at least one new medication after leaving hospital.

The hospital-to-pharmacy discharge service will start in July. It will begin with a digital referral – a notification sent by hospital staff to let the pharmacy team know there is a patient they need to get in touch with and support.

Other recent measures announced as part of the “pharmacy first” initiative include same-day NHS 111 referrals to local chemists.

Introduced in October, it has seen more than 100,000 patients with minor illnesses or who need medicine urgently being referred to local pharmacies, again relieving the pressure on doctors.

Mr Hancock said: “I want all patients to get the right care close to home and to avoid unnecessary visits to hospital.

“To help do that I’ve begun the ‘pharmacy first’ programme, asking pharmacies to do more to support people in the community, as they do in other countries like France.

“It is good for patients and great for the NHS because it reduces pressure on GPS and hospitals.

“These new services will help strengthen what community phar

macists can do, helping interrelation with general practice and hospitals, and help them deliver safer, more efficient patient care right across the NHS. This new contract bolsters the enhanced role that highly skilled pharmacists are playing.”