Hospital Initiated Medication Support Referral Service in Older People
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The feasibility of a hospital initiated medication support referral service for the benefit of older patients (“Medicines Support Study“)
IRAS ID
100995
Contact name
Helen Frances Ramsbottom
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Of Wolverhampton
Research summary
Between one-third and half of medicines for long-term conditions are not taken as recommended. This leads to poorer health, more hospital admissions and increased healthcare costs. Following a medication regimen after being in hospital is particularly difficult as nearly two-thirds of patients have three or more medicines changed during a hospital stay and almost half of all patients experience an error with their medication on discharge. Older people are more vulnerable than younger people as they tend to take more medication and may have particular circumstances that make it difficult for them to follow their prescription accurately.
This study will compare standard discharge care for patients aged 65 or older to a new service that involves a medicines use review (MUR) with a community pharmacist. An MUR is a one-to-one consultation that enables a patient to find out more about each medicine they are taking and any medication related problems. Patients recently discharged from hospital are a key target group for the MUR service.
Patients will be recruited to the study whilst they are in hospital. They will be randomly selected to be referred to their regular community pharmacist on discharge for an MUR or to be discharged as normal. The wellbeing and medication adherence scores of patients in the MUR group will be compared to those of the other group, one and six months after discharge. The number of GP appointments and hospital visits needed will also be collected. A subset of patient will be interviewed about their experiences of medicines support since leaving hospital. If the results from this feasibility study are positive we will run a larger multicentre study to investigate the benefits of the service in more detail.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NW/0779
Date of REC Opinion
30 Dec 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion