The Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm) has urged the government to make better use of pharmacists to tackle corridor care.
In a letter sent to health minister Karin Smyth last month, RCPharm English Pharmacy Advisory Council chair Professor Mahendra Patel set out a number of “targeted actions that could help prevent avoidable hospital admissions and improve patient outcomes”.
Read more: RCPharm calls on Scot govt to ‘make better use’ of pharmacy
The college said today that pharmacists’ expertise can help to “improve patient flow and ease pressure on emergency departments” (EDs).
It added that community pharmacists working across the healthcare system “regularly see the impact of corridor care, including missed doses of time-critical medicines”.
And it said the reduced privacy of corridor care impacts the ability to take a patient’s medication history and leads to a lack of “safe and appropriate” medicines storage and EDs holding different medications to wards.
“Urgent measures”
Patel’s letter has called on the government to take “urgent measures” to help tackle corridor care.
These included prioritising medicines reviews in patients “most likely” to attend ED due to adverse drug events, such as those taking multiple medicines or higher-risk medicines.
The letter also recommended expanding patient access to pharmacist-led post discharge medicines reviews to “reduce avoidable deterioration, falls and medicines related readmissions”.
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And it called for senior pharmacists within hospital trusts to be involved in decision-making on patient flow and corridor care.
Patel said that pharmacy leadership must remain “embedded throughout the system” as NHS England undergoes significant organisational change.
“Ensuring the best use of medicines is fundamental to improving patient outcomes, reducing pressure on emergency departments and delivering better value for the NHS,” he added.
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It comes after the college published an open letter in August urging the Scottish government to “make better use” of the pharmacy workforce as it looks to prioritise public service reform.
And it follows the Independent Pharmacies Association last month calling for the reintroduction of medicines user reviews and for community pharmacy to be “at the heart” of tackling polypharmacy.
