New policy concerning repeat medications and medication reviews

Below is a summary of the new practice policy to come into action on 1st October.  Please continue to read to understand the reasons behind this, in terms of patient safety and providing good clinical care.

From 1st October 2023, patients who request their repeat medications who have an ‘overdue’ medication review will have their tablets reduced to 28 days until they book a review.  if they continue to request without a review or booking for review they will have tablets reduced to 2 weeks.  this will continue at this number until their appointment is booked or they have had a review.

Why is there a need for a regular medication review?

• For all patients with medications on repeat there is a need for a clinician (GP or Clinical Pharmacist within the practice) to ‘review’ their medications at least annually. It can also be more frequent than this if clinically needed.
• The purpose of a medication review is several fold, but most importantly it is to check that the medications are being issued safely and are effective in treating your condition.
• Your “Medication review’ will, therefore, involve an assessment of your condition, for example, is your blood pressure controlled? How is your mood or pain? Is your diabetes controlled? Do you need any extra medications for your heart?
• The medication review will also need to include some measurements and tests if appropriate – these may be blood tests, checking your weight or performing some questionnaires etc.
• Sometimes the doctor or Pharmacist will be able to do a ‘medication review’ without seeing you – they will look at recent consultations, test results and perhaps information from the hospital. They will then update your review date appropriately.

How do I know when my ‘medication review’ is due?

There are several ways to know:

• It should be on the right side of your prescription paper when you pick it up from the pharmacy. It should be below your list of repeat medications – if these are printed out.
• You can also ask your pharmacist when you collect your medications – it will be on their system.
• If you have an up-to-date mobile number on your medication records you will receive a text in the month before your review is due informing you that you need to book an appointment

Why is there a new policy?

• After recent review of our prescribing, we have found there are a lot of patients who have ‘overdue medication reviews’ and this represents a safety issue to them and also that they may not be receiving the best care possible
• Patients are often reminded in several different ways – via text, message sent to pharmacist or sometimes calls, however, the policy represents a uniform and systematic way for all patients. Patients will be sent a message 1 month before their review date, they will be sent further messages if they continue to request medications reminding them to book a review – at the same time their tablet number will be reduced as above.
• The policy has been discussed with the Patient Participation Group (PPG) who is in agreement that it is good way to proceed
• The policy will be reviewed over time – it will be monitored to see if and what changes need to be made.