The Medicines Support at Home service provides structured medication review and medicines optimisation which is both reducing medicines related risk and medicines waste and also impacts in the following ways:
- Helps towards ensuring medicines adherence and shared decision making in a person centred way
- Reduces inappropriate prescribing of medication
- Medication review continuity is provided as the same MeSH pharmacists’ form part of our Enhanced Health in Care Homes approach and we are also reviewing hard to reach populations too
- Reductions in avoidable hospital admissions and hospital activity due to increased medication monitoring carried out and support for patients to gain an increased understanding of the medications they take
- Healthcare closer to home – medicine reviews take place in the person’s own home
From April 2018 to March 2019 that is to say in the past 12 months MeSH have exceeded its projected outcomes:
- 6,845 patients have undergone a medication review
- 11,338 medication interventions have taken place
- £73,052 net savings (prescribing savings taking away total MeSH service costs)
- Reductions in prescribing of medicines: 2,594 medicines are no longer prescribed to patients following review by MeSH
- The likelihood of risk of harm from medicines has been reduced by ensuring recommended monitoring has been undertaken with 408 errors having been identified and corrected
- 1,144 tests have been ordered to ensure medication regimens are safe, tolerated and effective and
- MeSH have been working with patients, carers, and prescribers to reduce, and stop medications associated with harm in the frail elderly population
- In total 342 people received input with their inhalers, be this inhaler technique being corrected or an alternative inhaler being recommended
- Patient and stakeholder satisfaction levels, as recorded through feedback and the Friends and Family Test, are in excess of 98% very positive