Community pharmacy discharge medicines service activity as recorded in PharmOutcomes: a retrospective exploration and...

Transition of care when a patient moves between healthcare locations is a risk factor for medication errors and medicines-related preventable harm. The aims of this retrospective service evaluation were to understand, by classifying and quantifying, the nature of interventions made by community pharmacy when receiving a discharge medicines service referral from a secondary care hospital, with a focus on two groups of high-risk medicines supplied at discharge-oral anticoagulants and weak opioids following hip or knee surgery.

Records made on the PharmOutcomes™ platform by community pharmacists in response to referral for the NHS England discharge medicines service were analysed and summarized. This analysis was exploratory and interpretative in nature and used a convenience sample of patients who had consented for the service over 12 months from May 2022 to April 2023.

During 12 months, 6811 referrals occurred, of which 71% were recorded as having different stages of the service completed on PharmOutcomes™. Medicines reconciliation, first-prescription review, and consultation stages decreased as patients progressed through the service. Slightly greater rates of completion were observed for patients receiving oral anticoagulants and for codeine or dihydrocodeine following hip and knee surgery, although overall referrals were low for this latter cohort.

Through this service, community pharmacists are well placed to support the safe and effective use of medicines including oral anticoagulants and weak opioids posthospital discharge and potentially reduce incidents of avoidable harm. The variations in recorded completion rates across the three stages of the service and the apparent greater finalization rates for the high-risk medicines studied require further investigation.