News

Government announces new digital pharmacy referral service

The Department of Health and Social Care has announced a new digital pharmacy referral service aimed to avoid hospital readmission.

Announced as part of the community pharmacy contractual framework, the new service to be launched as a pilot in July will see hospitals refer patients to pharmacy after discharge.

The approach is part of Matt Hancock’s ‘Pharmacy First’ strategy, where patients will be digitally referred to local pharmacy teams to support and manage their medicines.

A recent audit of NHS hospital discharges showed that 79% of patients were prescribed at least one new medication after being discharged from hospital, with local schemes demonstrating that patients who see their community pharmacist after they’ve been in hospital are less likely to be readmitted and will experience a shorter stay if they are.

Matt Hancock, Health and Social Care Secretary “I want all patients to get the right care close to home, and to avoid any 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’s good for patients and great for the NHS because it reduces pressure on GPs and hospitals.”

“These new services will help strengthen what community pharmacists can do, helping interrelation with general practice and hospitals, and help them deliver safer, more efficient patient care right across the NHS.”

Bruce Warner, NHS England deputy chief pharmaceutical officer, said “Over the next year we will introduce the new Discharge Medicines Service to help people most in need of support with their medication, as well as begin to test a variety of new measures to identify people with undiagnosed conditions.”

“This will make even better use of the valuable and extensive clinical skills of community pharmacists.”