The Scottish government has urged prescribers to inform pharmacists of changes to patient medication.

Prescribers should consider whether a patient would benefit from the national community pharmacy chronic medication service (CMS) when reviewing medication, NHS Scotland guidance released last week advises.

The Polypharmacy Guidance also recommendeds prescribers consult a pharmacist before reducing the dose of antipsychotics for patients with dementia.

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	The guidance aims to help clinicians manage patients on multiple medicines, providing recommendations on how to balance potentially conflicting guidelines and make safe prescribing decisions.

"Polypharmacy is an increasing fact of life," said RPS Scottish Pharmacy Board chair John Cromarty, a member of the Scottish Government Working Party on Polypharmacy.

"The increase in the prevalence of chronic illness and an aging population has seen a significant rise in the number of people on four or more (and often 10 or more) repeat medicines."

"It is important for all prescribers, including pharmacists, and for all non-prescribing pharmacists to have a better understanding of weighing up the risks and benefits of medicines in individual patients," he added.

The guidance suggests a number of criteria to help clinicians identify patients that could benefit from a medication review, including age, care home residence and numbers of repeat drugs.

Elderly patients are especially vulnerable to the risks of polypharmacy, according to the guidance. Four out of five people aged over 75 take a prescription medicine, with more than a third taking four or more.