Pharmacists identified signs of toxicity in hundreds of patients in a six-month audit of the high-risk medicines care pathway.

Community pharmacists must have access to electronic patient records to maximise their already important role in detecting adverse effects and preventing patient harm, Pharmacy Voice concluded from its study across 2,773 pharmacies.

The audit, published on Friday (July 19), found that pharmacists identified 425 patients taking methotrexate, lithium or warfarin who were showing signs of toxicity and referred around 500 additional patients for further investigation.

This highlighted that, without pharmacists, "patients' signs of toxicity may have gone unnoticed", Pharmacy Voice said. However, chief executive Rob Darracott added that more needed to be done to ensure patients were not "slipping through the net". 

Without pharmacists, signs of toxicity in patients taking methotrexate, lithium or warfarin may go unnoticed, Pharmacy Voice said	More on high-risk medicines Update: Methotrexate Why is warfarin given at 6pm? Update: Acute poisoning MORE NEWS
	The audit, which ran between October 2012 and March 2013, also found that 14 per cent of patients taking the three high-risk medicines could not confirm whether they had received a blood test within the correct timeframe.

Over a quarter of 48,000 patients told the pharmacist they did not have a patient record book, used to schedule blood tests and provide notes about the correct strength of a medicine. Of those patients who did have a book, only 42 per cent of patients taking methotrexate, 57 per cent of those on lithium and 59 per cent of warfarin patients brought their book with them to the pharmacy.

Pharmacy Voice said its findings suggested the system was "clearly not working well enough" and that pharmacists needed to work more with GPs and have access to electronic patient records in order to better monitor patients' treatment.

Pharmacy bodies, including Pharmacy Voice, called for greater access to patient data last October, following news that patients will be able to view their medical records online from 2015.