› Improving medication management for consumers

The Canterbury Clinical Network’s Pharmacy Service Level Alliance has established a working group to identify opportunities to improve medication management for consumers as they transfer from the community into secondary care and back home again. The Transfer of Care workgroup brings together diverse perspectives, including prescribers, pharmacists, and nurses from primary and secondary care alongside the consumer’s voice.

Feedback from consumers from the Patient Experience Survey has been useful in informing the working group of themes around medication and how they can improve the flow of information between hospital and the community. The response from questions around medication are often rated poorly. In April 2021, only 35 percent of inpatients surveyed said a staff member told them about medication side effects to watch for when they went home. Only 53 percent of outpatients surveyed told us that staff discussed their medication, what it was for and how to take it in a way they could understand. Initially, the transfer of care workgroup will focus on identifying opportunities to improve medication management and safety for consumers living independently and aged 65 years or older (55 for Māori and Pasifika). The group will draw on a range of different data sources, including inpatient, outpatient and primary care patient experience survey data to support this work. Data from the patient experience survey will be used to inform the focus of improvement and measure the effects of improvement efforts. Clinical Leader and Pharmacy Service Level Alliance Facilitator Gareth Frew says the patient experience survey provides a wealth of information on how the medication aspect of transfers of care between general practice, community care, outpatients and the hospital can be improved. 28 June 2021

Burwood Pharmacist Bevan talking to Ward B2 nurses about discharge medications.