Discharge Medicine Service (DMS) Standard Operating Procedure

Description

1. Read the NHSE&I regulations guidance and the NHSE&I DMS toolkit. 2. Ensure any pharmacists or pharmacy technicians (including locums) that will be undertaking the service also read both those documents. Encourage them to also undertake the CPPE DMS e-learning and assessment. 3. Find out which NHS Trusts in their area are already making referrals to community pharmacies following patients’ discharge and which will be starting this in due course. 4. Consider the practicalities of providing the service, including the conversation with the patient and /or their carer in stage 3 and how you will be able to undertake that remotely, where the patient cannot visit the pharmacy. Also think about your referral networks to general practices and how clinical pharmacists within your Primary Care Network may be able to assist with issues you have identified with a patient’s medicines regimen. 5. Develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the service. Make sure this includes the process by which referrals from Trusts will be received, how staff can access these referrals and the regularity of checking for new referrals. 6. Ensure all staff that will undertake parts of the service are briefed on the service and their role, and they are familiar with relevant sections of the SOP. 7. Once pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have undertaken the activity in point 2 and they are confident that they fully understand the service requirements and how it will operate in the pharmacy,