Before you begin, have you completed:

• NHS Discharge Medicines Service: part one
• NHS Discharge Medicines Service: part two
• NHS Discharge Medicines Service: part three

The three Cs

The Discharge Medicines Service (DMS) has been described as medicines reconciliation following discharge. While the steps required do not completely match with the process for medicines reconciliation on admission to hospital, there are elements of that process that could be applied to this service.

One approach to medicines reconciliation is the ‘three Cs’:

• Collecting the information about a patient’s medicines
• Checking that the information is accurate by comparing it with other sources of information
• Communicating this with the patient and members of the multidisciplinary team looking after the patient. Communication between pharmacy teams from all sectors and the wider disciplinary team is key at all stages of the Discharge Medicines Service.