Care homes and intermediate care

Impact of an integrated pharmacy service on hospital admission costs

Northumberland was chosen as one of the national vanguard sites in early 2015, in response to the Five year forward view initiative. This article describes the evolution of the integrated pharmacy service, which now operates across organisational boundaries and in collaboration w…

How Kayt Blythin established a pharmacist-led medicines optimisation service in East Sussex care homes

Kayt Blythin is a principal clinical pharmacist for medicines optimisation for care homes at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.…

Hand hygiene interventions could lower death rates in nursing home residents

Hand hygiene interventions, well known for their ability to reduce disease and death rates, are rarely implemented in nursing homes.…

Improving medicines optimisation for care home residents: Wigan Borough CCG’s approach

Although clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are not responsible for monitoring or regulating care homes, Wigan Borough’s approach demonstrates that it is possible for CCG staff to work collaboratively with care home and social care teams to improve outcomes for patients.…

Buying the public’s trust

Launch of major campaign to encourage people to use community pharmacy and pharmacists as a frontline clinical service did not go entirely as planned…

Integration fund to pay for pharmacist medicine optimisation posts in care homes

Announcement of 180 pharmacist and 60 pharmacy technician posts to improve medicines optimisation in care homes…

Brine says less than half the promised Pharmacy Integration Fund has been spent

Pharmacy minister Steve Brine has told MPs that less than half the money promised for the Parmacy Integration Fund in 2016–2018 has been spent, with just three months of the financial year remaining.…

Greater integration could bring better health in care homes, King’s Fund says

Closer co-ordination between care homes and other health services could help improve care for elderly residents, according to a King’s Fund report…

RPS Wales give evidence on use of antipsychotic medicines in care homes

Pharmacists should be “guardians of the appropriate use of antipsychotics in care home settings”, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in Wales told the Welsh Assembly on 5 October 2017.…

CQC says pharmacy can help stretched health services

Greater use of community pharmacy would help relieve the pressure on fully stretched health and social care services, care regulator the Care Quality Commission has said.…