Outcomes of Structured Medication Reviews for Selected Patients in the English National Health Service

Structured medication reviews are now a common part of primary care practice, but little information is available on the outcomes of these reviews. We incentivised practices to submit a report via MS Forms supplying information from and the outcomes of the reviews of two cohorts of patients (those prescribed potentially addictive medication and those on problematic polypharmacy), as defined in the Primary Care Networks Contract Directed Enhanced Service. Submissions were analysed in Microsoft Excel. By the end of March 2025, 2858 reports were received from 48 of 55 eligible practices, reviewing a total of 34,531 prescribed items, with a mean of 12.1 items reviewed per structured medication review. Results indicated a preference amongst patients for the remote delivery of reviews, though changes to prescribed medication were more common following face-to-face contact. A total of 2706 changes to prescribed medication were made at a mean rate of 0.9 per structured medication review, with pain management being the most common British National Formulary category altered, though this may be because of the cohorts chosen. The most common change across all reviews was the discontinuation of a prescribed item. In reviews for the potentially addictive medication cohort, a reduction was proposed and accepted in 43.5% of cases. Additional interventions, which took place in 83.9% of reviews, were also captured.