Yorkshire and Humber AHSN: Transfer of care around medicines (August 2018)

Summary

Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) cites evidence that when people move from one care setting to another, between 30% and 70% of patients have an error or unintentional change to their medicines. This presents a significant risk to their safety. Maintaining safe care as patients move across health and care services is a national priority for the NHS.

Content

The Connect with Pharmacy project improves handover between hospitals and community pharmacies when patients leaving hospital need extra support taking their medicines. The programme improves the continuity of care for patients and so reduces readmissions. 

Yorkshire & Humber AHSN are supporting Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships and Hospital Trusts to implement the Connect with Pharmacy. This will ensure that detailed changes to a patient’s medication are properly shared between hospitals and community settings. This video describes the project in more detail.