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NMS proves effective

The New Medicine Service can significantly increase patients' adherence to their new medicines and will save the NHS money through better patient outcomes at overall reduced costs, an evaluation of the service has concluded. Research showed that NMS consultations increased adherence by around 10 per cent and increased the number of medicine problems identified compared to standard practice.

The evaluation, commissioned by the Department of Health and carried out by researchers from the University of Nottingham and University College London, recommended that the service could be improved by expanding the range of conditions covered, improving training and engagement with GPs, and giving pharmacies access to GP records. It also suggested some other changes, such as making the service more patient-focused and better integrating it into care pathways. The evaluation concluded that the service should be commissioned in the future.

Lead researcher Professor Rachel Elliott, from the University of Nottingham, said: €Evaluating real life health services is challenging, and it is difficult to fully predict the long-term outcomes of the NMS, but our research suggests that patients will ultimately be better off as a result of the NMS and patients who receive the service will cost the NHS less money in the long term.€

Gary Warner, independent contractor and chair of PSNC's Service Development Subcommittee, was €delighted€ with the evaluation's positive conclusions. €This is a great reward for both the hard work that went into designing and negotiating the service, and for all the work pharmacies have been putting in since then to offer it to their patients,€ he said.

€The authors note that more than 90 per cent of community pharmacies have now offered the service and this is exceptional €“ it shows just how well the sector can respond when we are given the opportunity.€

More patients please

A wider cohort of patients should be included in the NMS to allow more people with newly diagnosed long-term conditions to benefit, said Dr David Branford, chair of the RPS English Board. €I would suggest that people with depression and dementia would be a wise place to start a wider roll out of the new medicine service to patients.€

Dr Branford highlighted some findings that the profession €must not shy away from€. For example, pharmacists' variable experiences of providing NMS, influenced by availability of staff such as accredited checking technicians and resources such as information and communication technologies. €In my view, if you haven't got enough support staff or the right IT, then the pharmacist's ability to deliver excellent care is compromised. In our 'Community Pharmacy Call to Action' response we said NHS England must provide the right environment in every pharmacy so pharmacists can deliver a fantastic service to patients.€

Patients have a lot to gain from NMS, said Dr Maureen Baker, chair of the Royal College of GPs. €It is excellent news that 90 per cent of pharmacies in England are now offering this service,€ she said. The RCGP recently warned that half of all adults in England find the health advice given to them by doctors and health professionals too complicated €“ including instructions on how to take medication appropriately. So it is €optimistic€ that this evaluation shows the service's ability to significantly increase patients' adherence to their new medicine.

€The study also makes clear just how important it is for GPs and pharmacists to work closely together in the best interests of our patients and to keep the NHS such good value for money,€ said Dr Baker.To view the full report, visit www.nmsevaluation.org.uk.