New Medicine Services

Just been prescribed a new medicine by your doctor? Or have you recently been discharged from the hospital?

Our experienced pharmacists will be happy to explain and guide you through the "do's" and "don't" in plain English without any jargon! Following an initial consultation, we will follow your progress on your new medication for the next 6 weeks (either by phone call or face-to-face) to make sure that all is well. If necessary, we will communicate with your GP to ensure that you are getting the most out of your new medicine. Please find below the additional information about the service.

In England, around 15 million people have a long-term condition (LTC). LTCs are those conditions that cannot, at present, be cured, but can be controlled by medication and other therapies. Although it can be difficult for some people to adjust to life with a LTC, there is often a great deal that can be done to manage symptoms and maintain quality of life.The prescription of a medicine is one of the most common interventions in healthcare. In England there were 813.3 million NHS prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacies in 2009-10. The optimal use of appropriately prescribed medicines is vital to the self-management of most LTCs, but reviews conducted across different disease states and different countries are consistent in estimating that between 30 and 50 per cent of prescribed medicines are not taken as recommended. This represents a failure to translate the technological benefits of new medicines into health gain for individuals. Sub-optimal medicines use can lead to inadequate management of the LTC and a cost to the patient, the NHS and society.It is therefore clear that non-adherence to appropriately prescribed medicines is a global health problem of major relevance to the NHS. It has been suggested that increasing the effectiveness of adherence interventions may have a far greater impact on the health of the population than any improvement in specific medical treatments

Non-adherence is often a hidden problem, undisclosed by patients and unrecognised by prescribers. People make decisions about the medicines they are prescribed and whether they are going to take them very soon after being prescribed the new medicine.Proof of concept research has shown that pharmacists can successfully intervene when a medicine is newly prescribed, with repeated follow up in the short term, to increase effective medicine taking for the treatment of a long-term condition.Service descriptionThis service will provide support to people who are newly prescribed a medicine to manage a long-term condition, which will generally help them to appropriately improve their medication adherence.Aims and intended outcomesThe service should:a) help patients and carers manage newly prescribed medicines for a LTC and make shared decisions about their LTCb) recognise the important and expanding role of pharmacists in optimising the use of medicines.

Source: PSNC

This service is fully funded by NHS England.