EXCLUSIVE

C+D readers remain unconvinced by the new medicine service (NMS) despite the recommendation of an independent evaluation that it should be commissioned permanently.

Forty-nine per cent of 144 respondents to a C+D poll, conducted between August 14 and 20, said the money for NMS would be better spent on other parts of the pharmacy contract. This was only two per cent less than the results of a poll held earlier in the month, before an evaluation by Nottingham University concluded the service "significantly" improved adherence and saved the NHS money.

Pharmacists told C+D that funding for the NMS, which was estimated to save the NHS £21 per patient, should be used to improve the medicines supply chain instead.

Ginny Henderson, pharmacist at Whitworth Pharmacy in Middlesbrough, said medicines shortages were a "much bigger problem at the minute" and required investment.

"We haven't done as many NMS [consultations] as I would expect but other branches have done loads and they think it's really valuable. We're from quite a deprived area and the patients aren't always as keen," she said.

Pharmacist Stephen Walsh told C+D that the service could have been valuable and increased pharmacists' clinical role if it had been implemented better. But the daily pressure of providing patients with their regular medications was "hard enough" and the money spent on the NMS should be used to reimburse pharmacists for dealing with shortages, he said.

Pharmacist Gerry Diamond, who voted against the NMS in the poll, said he was not against the service "in principle" but it needed to be funded separately from the pharmacy contract.

"Without a well-resourced [medicines] supply service, additional [pharmacy] services will become unsustainable. The supply side will buckle under lack of finance and an exhausted pharmacy workforce," he told C+D.

However, 51 per cent of respondents to the poll said they thought the NMS was cost effective and provided a valuable service to patients.

Garry Michaels, owner of The Heath Pharmacy in Hertfordshire, told C+D that the NMS was a "worthwhile service" and it "would be great" if it was commissioned permanently.

"We do a few [NMS consultations] per month so I would say that it was money well spent," Mr Michaels said. "Those who have not bothered to engage with it probably think there are better things to spend the money on."

The study, which gathered data from 504 patients who received the service across 46 pharmacies, found that patients were overall 10 per cent more likely to continue taking their medicine if they received NMS consultations. Industry leaders and GPs welcomed the report as a chance to encourage collaboration between the two professions.

	Should the money spent on the NMS be used elsewhere?