How Chemistree can use the New Medicine Service (NMS) to benefit Care Home residents

The New Medicine Service (NMS), an initiative designed to help patients adhere to medication guidelines for newly prescribed medicines when suffering from long-term illness.

Advice is given on relevant lifestyle changes and other non-drug interventions that can improve costs to the patient, the NHS and the taxpayer.

The NMS benefits also include: 

• improved management of long-term conditions
• reduced medicine wastage
• reduced hospital admissions due to adverse events associated with medicines
• increased reporting of medicine adverse reactions by pharmacists and patients
• increased positive patient assessments .

NMS primarily focuses on five clinical conditions: Asthma; COPD, Type 2 Diabetes, Antiplatelet/Anticoagulant Therapy, and Hypertension.

There is strong evidence that patient concerns are a frequent cause of non-adherence, the patient-centred approach of the NMS allows pharmacists to understand each patients concerns and tailor their advice and support accordingly.

Three main stages are involved; Patient Engagement, Initial Intervention and Follow Up; to encourage effective medicine-taking. Patient Engagement should be initiated the first time the patient is obtaining a supply of new medicine.

NMS provides a key opportunity for Chemistree to make a significant difference to patient care. By providing this service, our pharmacists can offer additional support and advice to patients who have been prescribed a new medicine for a long-term condition, playing a vital role in the QIPP (Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention) agenda for medicines optimisation.

By Zam Zam Rahman Pharmacy and Area Mangager