The Pharmacy Integration Fund money in 2018-2020 funded additional staff (100% in year one and 50% in year 2) to integrate into the medicines optimisation work in care homes. This money enabled us to expand our existing care home team and we have been able to employ technicians to support our medication review pharmacists, care home improvement team nurses, GP and emergency response team.
This project discusses and values how integrating technicians into our care home medicines optimisation team has led to improvements in the quality in care homes through process reviews and audits to reduce avoidable waste. It has also freed up time for our care home pharmacists to prioritise homes and undertake more clinical medication reviews and staff training.
Technicians use a checklist to ensure consistency and work with the home to make improvements. Early indications after 4-6 months in post suggest each technician can review around 3 homes a month and make savings equivalent to £70,000/technician/year. Our technicians add value, can extend the number of homes visited and are cost effective.
