RPS to host new standards on optimising medicines for detained immigrants and young offenders

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has announced it will host and publish new professional standards for optimising medicines for people in secure environments.

The standards have been developed by the NHS England Immigration Removal Centres Medicine Improvement Programme working group, in line with the RPS hospital pharmacy service standards (published in 2014) and recommendations in the Shaw review (published in January 2016). 

The standards, which are out for consultation until 25 November 2016, are for use in England but may also be of value in Wales and Scotland. They aim to support the commissioning and development of safe, quality services for patients by encouraging a multidisciplinary approach between pharmacy, healthcare and custodial workforces.

They will be published in two editions: ‘Immigration Removal Centres’; and ‘Prisons, Young Offender Institutions and Secure Training Centres’, and will be divided into five domains that will be used across both editions. The domains describe a patient’s journey, starting with their arrival into a secure environment when their initial medicine needs should be identified.

The second domain covers standards for meeting a person’s medicine needs during their stay in a secure environment, through supported self-care, repeat prescriptions and medicines reviews.

Thirdly, the standards cover the continuation of a patient’s medicines on release and transfer, for example, ensuring access to a supply of medicines and the provision of written information about their medicines.

The fourth domain sets out the standards for patients to have their medicines optimised within a robust clinical governance framework while the final domain outlines how patients should have their medicines optimised by a multidisciplinary and competent workforce.

To see the draft version of the professional standards and add comments before the end of the consultation, visit the RPS website.

• The headline was updated on 1 November 2016 to clarify who standards are aimed at helping