Medicines Management

Currently we are updating the Policies,
so please visit www.nice.org.uk for up to date national guidance.

What is medicines management?

Medicines management is about helping health professionals and patients make the right treatment choices. This is an evidence based approach to product choices which balances the safety, tolerability, effectiveness, price and simplicity of treatments. The list below gives you some examples of the types of things which come under "medicines management" - there are many more!

Giving health professionals unbiased information on a new drug
Asking a patient if they have any unwanted effects from their medicines
Talking to carers about medicines and any concerns they may have
Developing a local guideline for asthma management
Giving advice on how to dispose of medicines safely
Giving advice on safe systems for ordering medicines from the surgery

How is medicines management helping patients in Bolton PCT?

Doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other health professionals all do some medicines management as part of their day-to-day work. It's a particularly large part of a pharmacist's job.

The medicines management team in Bolton PCT has strong links with the hospital. This is essential to ensure that care is continuous wherever a patient is seen.

What work the medicines management team are doing within the NHS in Bolton?

The PCT team now consists of nine pharmacists (four full-time and five part-time), one clinical support officer and a medicines management assistant working in the PCT at the moment. Below is a table describing the roles and responsibilities of the team and current areas of work. This may allow you to direct any queries more effectively.

Job Title	Name(s)	Specific Focus
Asst Director of Clinical Governance	Vacant	Strategic direction for medicines management team Supports director of Clinical Governance
Clinical Effectiveness Pharmacists	Andrew White Kay Gibson	Joint PCT/Hospital work/guidelines Prescribing advice to PCT and independent contractors Managed entry of new drugs Education and training Specialist Commissioning NICE guidance implementation Community pharmacy development Unscheduled care development
Intermediate Care Pharmacist	Ann Lees	Integrated with intermediate care teams Provides advice, support and review or MM needs of patients in intermediate care Training for social care staff
Prescribing Support Manager	Nicola Schaffel	Manages Prescribing support team, Prescribing budget setting and monitoring Prescribing reports for PCT Prescribing incentive scheme
Prescribing Support Pharmacists	Juliet Bell Susan Cook Anthony Robinson	General Responsibilities Practice based support Medicines information Audit of prescribing Practice staff training Specific responsibilities Prescribing update editor (JB) Formulary Developer (SC) Additional support for intermediate care (AR)
Clinical Support Officer	Janet Walker	Supports prescribing support pharmacists Clinical audit Practice based training
Secretary	Becky Horrocks	Administrative support

The work we have planned?

We annually review the work of the team and are always striving to improve the effectiveness of the team. To this end the prescribing support pharmacists changed their focus following a review in 2004. At this time the focus was changed from over 75yrs medication reviews given to a selected number of patients within a select number of practices to a more inclusive practice based model. This allowed the team to cover more practices than they were, allowing them to influence the prescribing to more patients.
We currently work with 50 out of 57 GP practices within Bolton to facilitate improvements in prescribing. Examples of work carried out include evidence based prescribing audits, training on therapeutics and assisting the implementation of safe prescribing systems. This is tailored to the agreed needs of the practice.

Joint working with the Bolton Hospitals Trust

We have worked with the hospital to produce a joint plan for medicines management in Bolton. This plan, plots the direction of the team, for more information, look at the Joint Strategic Plan. Some of the aspects of the plan we are doing already, and a few things will take a little longer to set up.
We have produced Joint Treatment Guidelines for many conditions together with the hospital, (for example, asthma, high blood pressure, heart failure). We also produce agree the place for the use of many new drugs across the whole health economy. This process is facilitated by the Clinical Effectiveness Pharmacists.
The Clinical Care Group (CCG) is the joint group between the PCT and Hospital Trust, which looks at aspects of care associated with medicines and technologies. It is the group empowered by both trusts to approve joint treatment guidelines, patient group directions and to approve areas of joint working between the trusts. If you wish to put forward agenda items for the CCG please sent this to Andrew.white@bolton.nhs.uk for inclusion in the next available meeting. Previous agendas and minutes are available, as are the terms of reference for the group. If you wish to use a new drug within the health economy, please use the forms on this site to do so.

How to contact us

If you have a query about your own medicines, your local pharmacist or your own doctor will be able to help. Your local pharmacy should be your first point of call, to find our nearest pharmacy, click here.

If you have a query about the work the PCT is doing in medicines management, want to find out more, or have a specific query you can contact the team secretary,
Becky Horrocks on 01204 46 2125 or becky.horrocks@bolton.nhs.uk who will be able to direct your query to the most appropriate person. Alternatively if you know the person you wish to contact, you can email them on firstname.secondname@bolton.nhs.uk.