Care homes and intermediate care

Donepezil may delay nursing home admission in moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease

Discontinuing donepezil in Alzheimer’s patients as their disease worsens could double the risk of admission into a nursing home within a year, suggests a study published in The Lancet Neurology.…

Poor medicines management a common issue in NHS services, finds Care Quality Commission

Patient safety is being compromised by poor medicines management in many NHS and adult social care services, according to a report by the Care Quality Commission.…

Pharmacists must prepare for changing NHS, RPS conference hears

The pharmacy profession will need to adapt its clinical practice within a changing NHS as the health service adjusts to meet demand, attendees at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s annual conference heard.…

Clinics for nursing home residents reduce emergency admissions

A project in Northern Ireland has demonstrated the value of a consultant pharmacist reviewing medicines for patients in nursing homes.…

Reduced hospital admissions for care home residents in London

High-risk patients from 70 care homes in London received personalised care plans from a multi-disciplinary project team.…

Getting to the premier division and staying there

In her report for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) ‘Now or never: shaping pharmacy for the future’, Judith Smith depicted a profession that, despite its size and wealth, remained in the third division of healthcare professions — i.e. constantly underachieving and mo…

Greater risk of death by antipsychotics in dementia patients, research suggests

The risk of death caused by use of antipsychotic drugs in people with dementia is greater than previously thought, and increases in line with dose, research suggests.…

GP and pharmacy leaders call for pharmacists to work within general practice

A pharmacist should work in every GP practice in England to offer specialist medicines advice and support to patients and take pressure off family doctors.…

Micro-costing model used to assess costs of pharmacy service

Researchers have used micro-costing to discover the cost of a medication review service in a care home given by a multidisciplinary team.…

Take action to prevent misuse of psychotropic medicines in care homes

English Pharmacy Board chairman Dave Branford makes the case for pharmacists to have more input into care home prescribing.…