In response to the COVID-19 Hospital Discharge Guidance being published, the Tees Valley Care home team refocused some of their work programme to support the safer prescribing of medications following discharge from hospital, new registrations into a care home setting and any medication queries the care home may have. This work is carried out remotely using digital/virtual resources available, the workforce consists of dedicated pharmacy technicians.
The main aims of the service are to reduce the risk of harm from medication errors and adverse events following admission to a care home from a hospital or residential setting, therefore reducing the pressure on GP practices, reduce unplanned hospital admissions and ensure safe prescribing.
The Care Homes are able to notify details of patients to the team as a routine part of their re-admission/new admission to the care home, via nhs email to: necsu.medreviewreferrals@nhs.net which triggers a medicines reconciliation review within 48 hours.
The team are also the single point of contact for non- urgent medication queries from a care home setting, facilitating medication supply to care homes, including end of life medication. Care homes are asked to send non-urgent medication queries via email to: necsu.medreviewreferrals@nhs.net and we would aim to respond within 48 hours.
The hours of operation are currently Mon - Fri: 9.00am-5.00pm, during our COVID-19 response (Mar – June 2020) we also provided the service Sat - Sun and bank holidays: 12.30pm-4.00pm.
The pharmacy technicians use a standard tool (Add Value Tool produced by Northumbria Healthcare NHS foundation trust) during the medication reconciliation process to escalate clinical issues to the PCN pharmacists. They complete a medicine reconciliation using the GP clinical system and medicine administration record chart (MAR chart) at the care home to check for accuracy of the information with the discharge letter and follow up any discrepancies. They also inform the relevant PCN pharmacist that a medication reconciliation has been completed and the GP clinical system is also read coded by the technician to ensure clear communication pathways.
