09 Mar 2010
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and the Primary Care Pharmacists Association (PCPA) today released a report of their Medicines Use Review support and evaluation programme, which ran from October 2008-March 2009.
The programme, delivered in four sites across England, involved training pharmacists on consultation skills and time management, followed up with peer support and local facilitation.
The number of MURs rose significantly across the sites both during and after the project period, suggesting an ongoing benefit from the programme. Participating pharmacists reported an improvement in their time management and an increase in confidence, both of which had been barriers to them implementing MURs.
Patients evaluated the MURs very highly and reported that they had gained an increase in their understanding of both their medicines (92% of respondents) and their medical condition (87%). 97% said the advice given to them was useful.
Evaluation of the written recommendations to GPs showed these to be of variable quality, and a key learning point was the need for improved written communication.
PCPA chair, Duncan Petty, said: “We are pleased to have been able to work with the NPA on such a collaborative programme that delivered tangible benefits to all stakeholders particularly patients who valued their MUR service extremely highly. We look forward to further collaboration with the NPA, to extend the benefits of this project and to identify other partnership opportunities.”
NPA Head of External Relations, Stephen Fishwick, said: “It is clear from our joint programme that soft skills training and peer support is useful in helping pharmacists to undertake effective MURs. The results also highlight again the challenges of communicating effectively with GPs. The NPA will now work with PCPA to devise guidance on effective written communication with GPs, complementing our existing partnerships with the BMA.”
This project was kindly supported by Pfizer Ltd as a service to medicine.
The full report will shortly be available at www.npa.co.uk and www.pcpa.org.uk.
