Hospital/acute care teams
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The role of pharmacy teams is vital to make sure that patients continue to take the right medicines safely when they leave hospital or another acute care setting, but how does each team contribute to the NHS Discharge Medicines Service (DMS)?
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s ‘Professional standards for hospital pharmacy services’ states: “The pharmacy team provides the leadership, systems support and expertise to enable the organisation to transfer information about patients’ medicines to the professional(s) taking over care of the patient (e.g. general practitioner, community pharmacist, or care home or domiciliary care agency staff).”
The hospital pharmacy team is responsible for:
- Agreeing the system for secure electronic transfer of information on discharge with local community pharmacies. This is in conjunction with key stakeholders, supported by their Academic Health Science Network (AHSN). For example, via NHSmail or via an electronic interface between hospital and community pharmacy systems
- Deciding which patients will be offered a referral to their community pharmacist through their Transfers of Care Around Medicines (TCAM) pathway, with guidance from their AHSN
- Identifying patients suitable for referral, discussing the service and its benefits with patients and agreeing consent if the patient is happy for information about their medicines to be transferred. The patient may need help to identify their usual pharmacy
- Deciding what information should be transferred as part of the referral
- Answering queries from community pharmacy professionals about the patient’s medicines, if required
- Providing specialist support for patients who need more complex or additional support to reduce their risk of readmission. NHS Trusts should work with community pharmacists and PCNs to establish multidisciplinary teams, often including a specialist pharmacist and/or a hospital consultant, to offer specialist support for these patients.