The community pharmacy team can help identify patients who are at risk of falling in several ways, including:

• Medicines use reviews to identify medicines that might cause a person to fall and refer to the GP where appropriate
• Helping people take their osteoporosis therapy correctly
• Giving advice and information to older people and their families on healthy living, including exercises
• Signposting to other services, such as sight and hearing.

Helping people take osteoporosis medication

There are many reasons why people stop taking osteoporosis medication. They might:

• Not understand the benefits
• Be concerned about side effects
• Have difficulty with complicated dosage instructions
• Simply forget to take it.

Pharmacy staff can help people starting and continuing osteoporosis therapy to understand the benefits and risks of their treatment as well as the consequences of not taking it. Discussing medication with the patient can help pharmacy staff to understand the individual's barriers to taking the therapy and offers the opportunity to educate, reassure and suggest practical solutions.