Staffordshire pharmacist campaigns for better medicine management to save NHS £300m

A leading Staffordshire pharmacist is campaigning for new ways to ensure prescription medicines are taken correctly by patients.

A lack of understanding of the need to take medication as prescribed, coupled with human failings such as patient forgetfulness, confusion, and fear, cost the NHS £300 million a year.

It is also thought to be responsible for more than one in seven (13.6 %) of all hospital emergency admissions*.

Now Andrew Burr, of Tamworth-based SpringPharm, has called on NHS leaders to introduce an integrated medicine management system – and has set them a challenge of getting a patient-centric system in place in just 18 months.

Andrew, whose company serves 100,000 patients in Tamworth and Lichfield, said such a programme would have the potential to transform the way prescriptions are monitored.

It would also alert prescribers when patients were failing to take vital prescription medicine.

He said: “To be blunt, the most expensive drug is the one the patient does not take.

“It leads to more ill health and admissions to hospitals which may well be avoided if the NHS was able to change prescription management procedures”.

Andrew’s presentation to the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board.

A former Council Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Andrew laid-out his plans in an address to the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board.

In his presentation, he said the major problem is that most medication management is undertaken in the home, where the patient can be isolated. In some cases, patients fail to take their medication correctly, or at all. This may be down to forgetfulness, lack of understanding or fear.

He said: “We must put the patient at the heart of medicine management. What if we could install a machine in the home to automatically dispense medicines? One that reminds patients to take the prescribed medication and one that immediately alerts health care professionals if they are not taken.

“By working together, we could keep patients out of hospital and reduce costs. The technology is proven and available, but technology is only ever an enabler.

“My company, an independent pharmacy business, has been serving the Tamworth community for over 50-years. We have the people, the knowledge and the resources to pilot the concept of a local medication management hub. This approach could establish Staffordshire as an exemplar of leading medical management for the UK and Europe.”