Keith Ridge: Everyone waiting to see if MURs become clinical
“Everyone is waiting to see” whether medicines use reviews (MURs) will be “transformed”, England’s chief pharmaceutical officer has told C+D.
The ‘Murray review’ into clinical pharmacy services recommended in December 2016 that "MURs should evolve into full clinical medication reviews, utilising independent prescribing as part of the care pathway".
C+D asked Keith Ridge – who commissioned the review – yesterday (June 28) when NHS England will finally respond to the document’s proposals.
Mr Ridge replied that the recommendation that “everyone is waiting to see what [will] happen… is transforming MURs [in]to clinical medication reviews”.
“We need to think about how we are pursuing that recommendation, and how we will go about discussing it within NHS England,” he told C+D at the Health+Care 2017 conference in London.
NHS England will respond "at some point"
The commissioner will formally respond to the review “at some point, hopefully in the not-too-distant future”, said Mr Ridge, who stressed that the “sort-of change of government with the election has brought a lot of pressure on the system in terms of priorities”.
“When we look at the Murray review and the recommendations, we can see that there are already things underway,” he added.
In the review, King’s Fund director of policy Richard Murray recommended MURs be "redesigned" to include "on-going monitoring and regular follow-up with patients". For MURs to be "safe and effective", Mr Murray suggested pharmacists be given access to a patient’s full medical record.
The reaction on Twitter
.@keithridge1: @NHSEngland thinking "long and hard" about Murray report, will respond "hopefully not in too distant future" #healthpluscare pic.twitter.com/AAkPp7iSrb
— Thomas Cox (@CandDThomas) June 28, 2017
Same long hard think they had with Pharmacy Call to Action? @grahamsphillips
— Mike Hewitson (@MikeHewitson1) June 28, 2017
no confidence in pharmacy leadership @NHSEngland
Not holding my breath. The response was promised by @mowat4ws many months ago
— Graham Phillips (@grahamsphillips) June 28, 2017
they've had long enough to think about it!
— Sandra Gidley (@SandraGidley) June 28, 2017
Read C+D’s full coverage of the 'Murray' report here.
Do you think MURs need to be transformed?