Targeted medicines use reviews (Iqoncept /Dreamstime.com)
As the Government looks to move forward with targeted medicines use reviews, what do we already know about which patients can be effectively targeted and how best to deliver the service?
Carina Livingstone, associate director, clinical pharmacy, East and South East England Specialist Pharmacy Services, describes a range of target MUR projects at various stages of development and highlights some problems and successes
Summary
Since medicines use reviews (MURs) were introduced in 2005, primary care trusts have been able to indicate categories of patients who would benefit from the service. Pharmacists are required to “have regard” to this when offering MURs.
However, in response to concerns about MURs not being well targeted, the Government indicated that stronger provision would be made for PCTs to prioritise MURs to meet local health needs and ensure service quality.
The two national pharmacy clinical directors for England, Martin Stevens and Jonathan Mason, have indicated that they want to take this agenda forward and have suggested targeting people who have been discharged from hospital and those taking medicines that are frequently implicated as a contributory factor in hospital admissions (eg, diuretics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and antiplatelet drugs).
Full text article available to read as a PDF (210K) file.
